Are you a struggling football club sliding towards a relegation battle with one in 13 matches? Then all you need is for your chairman to offer a significant bonus for beating the team owned by his despised rival to turn things around. It works miracles as seen in Brentford 0-2 Brighton.
Two of the Albion’s four most recent Premier League victories have come against Brentford. Spread 16 games and three months apart.
There is something Brighton like about facing the Bees. And who cares if it is the cold, hard cash we know Bloom has a history of putting up to get one over Matthew Benham?
Any incentive which worked in snapping the Albion out of their terrible run of form was welcome given how desperate the situation was threatening to become.
The Albion arrived at the Gtech Stadium 18th in the Premier League form table over the past 10 games. Brentford in contrast were top.
No side had claimed more points than the Bees since Christmas as ex-Albion midfielder Keith Andrews attempts to lead Brentford into Europe for the first time in their history. What a phenomenal job Andrews has done.
Yet not against the Seagulls. If you watched Brentford 0-2 Brighton with no prior knowledge of said form table, you would conclude the hosts were the strugglers and the away team flying.
Brentford were awful. And Brighton were very good. Fabian Hurzeler changed his game plan to make the Albion more direct, enabling them to get the ball forward much faster.
That compensated for a starting XI which looked so lacking in pace that you could drop a 90-year-old great grandmother in there and it would have increased the average speed of the team.
Brighton also did something radical like taking shots from distance. There was none of this trying to walk the ball into the back of the net.
As seen when barely creating a chance – let alone scoring – when losing 1-0 to Crystal Palace, 1-0 to Aston Villa and 3-0 to Liverpool in their three previous February outings.
It was from one such long range attempt at goal that the opener arrived on the half hour mark. Ferdi Kadioglu rattled the bar with a spectacular curling effort from 30 yards out.
The ball bounced down to Diego Gomez who clinically fired home the rebound. Ending a wait of around 323 minutes for an Albion player to find the back of the net.
Brighton deserved their lead having gone close three times prior to Gomez netting. Lewis Dunk volleyed a corner straight at Caoimhin Kelleher. The Bees goalkeeper then saved well from a Jack Hinshelwood distance drive and a Kaoru Mitoma one-on-one.
The second Albion goal came on the stroke of half time and was an absolute gift. Nathan Collins had only just replaced the injured Aaron Hickey when he bizarrely decided to try and clear a Hinshelwood cross with a back heel inside his own six yard box.
Needless to say, this bold decision did not pay off. Collins totally missed the ball whilst almost falling over. Leaving Danny Welbeck to gleefully accept the gift and smash home the easiest goal he will score all season.
Brighton were happy to defend what they had after the break and play on the counter. Dango Ouattara hooked over from close range when a free kick was not sufficiently cleared.
Mikkel Damsgaard could only put a one-on-one tamely into the hands of Bart Verbruggen for what was the only shot on target Brentford managed in the second half.
The Bees put two on target during the opening 45 minutes but arguably their best chance was wastefully volleyed over by Igor Thiago after a brilliant piece of chest control from a Jordan Henderson pass took him clear.
A magnificent miss to go with his penalty saved by Verbruggen at the Amex. Justice for those of us who remember the way he goaded the North Stand after putting the Bees ahead in November.
Unlike that previous meeting, Verbruggen was only called into serious action once during Brentford 0-2 Brighton. And it was not even a Bees player troubling him.
Late in the day and Verbruggen had to to sprawl to his right to claw out a near-own goal after a cross hit Joel Veltman and almost bounced in. A nice clean sheet bonus for the Albion number one to go with whatever Bloom was offering for the win.
It feels worth mentioning the players were not the only ones who played their part in seeing the Seagulls to victory over Benham.
The away end too was excellent at a time when Brighton fans have come in for a lot of criticism for their reaction to recent results and performances. Even if much of that criticism has been justified.
A chorus of “We are staying up” greeted the opening goal. Immediately followed by “Europe again, ole ole”. Followed by “We’re gonna win the league”.
James Milner was also treated to a fine reception after becoming the outright holder of the Premier League appearance record with his 654th top flight game.
Milner had a fine afternoon in midfield, justifying Hurzeler’s decision to start him. It was a fitting way for Milner to reach the milestone.
Much more so than the recent unnecessary cameo appearances from the bench which have pushed him to the record but cost Brighton points.
A good day all round then for Brighton. But one swallow does not a summer make. The challenge now is for the Albion to maintain this level of performance over the rest of the season… against opponents other than Brentford.
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About the Author
Scott attended his first Brighton game aged two-years-old at the Goldstone Ground. He has since watched over 1,100 matches across four home grounds, four divisions and feels his parents should be charged with child cruelty for inflicting a lifetime of supporting the Albion on him.