ENGLAND DIVISION 1
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION- GILLINGHAM
Hosts are very disappointed by their start to a season which promised so much. They have been unlucky with injury, which gives them an excuse of sorts, that situation is clearing up, boss Russell Slade has virtually a full squad to choose from now and results look set to improve. Last three games have shown promise, with a 1-1 draw at highflying Bristol Rovers where they led, followed by a 1-0 home loss to MK Dons, who are a very good team, in that game Brighton had the greater possession and goalscoring chances, before a dismissal turned the match on it's head. At the weekend they raced into a two goal lead at Yeovil, before losing a key player and allowing two points to slip.
That player was striker Liam Dickinson who had just scored, he is someone we have discussed in the past and he is very useful at this level, he has recovered to play tonight and I really like his pairing with the ancient, but still prolific Nicky Forster up front. Man for man, Slade has a better than average squad at this level and there can be no more excuses for him, or his playing staff. I fancy them to get a win tonight against a Gills team that really toil on their travels. You can look at results this year and argue that most of their away games, where they only have just one point from five starts, have come against strong teams, which is true, but they also shipped four at woeful Tranmere and few other teams will accomplish that feat this season.
Looking at the last two and a bit seasons, they are 11-10-30 on the road, which is borderline poor, especially considering they were promoted last campaign, but even worse when we consider that seven of those wins came in a golden 12 game spell late last season, take those away and we are looking at just 4 wins in 39 starts. They have slipped back into their old ways and this is clearly a team unhappy away from the garden county of Kent. They did manage a win by the odd goal in five at the weekend, but that was their first in five starts and came against a managerless and weak Wycombe outfit. I expect the home side to come good this evening and start a march up the table of sorts, otherwise Mr Slade had better get his c.v prepared ready for action.
5.5 points Brighton -1/2 ball 2.25 general quote.
Good Luck.
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