March strikes rare opening goal for Brighton Englishman in August
Solly March scoring the first goal of the season for Brighton against Luton Town broke a record stretching back to 2011.
It had been 12 years since an Englishman last scored for the Seagulls on the opening day. The player? Will Buckley when Brighton beat Doncaster Rovers 2-1 in the Championship at the Amex.
Current coach of the Greek national team Gus Poyet was Seagulls manager in that 2011-12 campaign. Buckley scored twice, the first in in the 83rd minute and the second in the eighth minute of added time to give Brighton victory in the first league game at the Amex Stadium.
Seagulls fans will never forget Buckley for writing his place in the history books. He would play 109 times for Brighton and score 19 goals before joining Poyet at Sunderland for a transfer fee of £2.5 million.
Scoring has not always been easy for the Seagulls on the opening day. They did not trouble the scoreboard for five seasons out of seven after Buckley and Doncaster.
Hull City in 2012-13, Sheffield Wednesday in 2014-15, Derby County in 2016-17, Manchester City in 2017-18 and Watford in 2018-19 all featured no Brighton goals.
Their record has improved since 2019 and Luton made it five consecutive Premier League seasons where Brighton have scored on the opening day.
The Seagulls beat Watford 3-0 in 2019-20, lost 2-1 to Chelsea in 2020-21, defeated Burnley 2-1 in 2021-22 and it was the same outcome against Manchester United in 2022-23.
On those occasions, the first goal of Brighton’s seasons were scored by an own goal (followed by Florin Andone), Leandro Trossard, Neal Maupay and Pascal Gross.
This also means that March becomes the first Englishman to score for the Albion on a Premier League opening day.
The moment came in the 36th minute. Kaoru Mitoma crossed and March connected with a perfect header to make it 1-0.
Brighton went onto win 4-1 and even sat first place in the table for a few hours before Newcastle United beat Aston Villa.
In detail, here are the players who scored the opening goal on the first matchday of the season between March and Buckley:
- 2023-24: Brighton 1-0 Luton (Solly March)
- 2022-23: Manchester United 1-2 Brighton (Pascal Gross)
- 2021-22: Burnley 1-2 Brighton (Neal Maupay)
- 2020-21: Brighton 1-3 Chelsea (Leandro Trossard)
- 2019-20: Watford 0-3 Brighton (Florin Andone)
- 2018-19: Watford 2-0 Brighton
- 2017-18: Brighton 0-2 Manchester City
- 2016-17: Derby County 0-0 Brighton
- 2015-16: Brighton 1-0 Nottingham Forest (Kazenga LuaLua)
- 2014-15: Brighton 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
- 2013-14: Leeds United 2-1 Brighton (Leonardo Ulloa)
- 2012-13: Hull City 1-0 Brighton
- 2011-12: Brighton 2-1 Doncaster Rovers (Will Buckley)
Dimitris Manakos @dimitris_manakos / England365.gr
