The Seagulls have moved upto 11th in the table following a memorable come from behind win against League One Promotion hopeful’s Nottingham Forest. Quick fire goals from Dean Hammond and Nick Ward giving the Seagulls 3 points after Forest took the lead through Jack Lester.

 

 

Brighton: Kuipers, El-Abd, Lynch, Butters, Rents (Elder 69), Cox, Bertin, Hammond, Ward (Fraser 88), Gatting (Revell 54), Savage.
Subs Not Used: Sullivan, O’Cearuill.

Booked: Ward, Cox.

Goals: Hammond 72, Ward 73.

Nott’s Forest: Smith, Curtis (Dobie 85), Breckin, Morgan, Bennett, Prutton, Gary Holt (Commons 85), Perch, Lester, Tyson, Grant Holt (Agogo 69).
Subs Not Used: Chambers, Clingan.

Sent Off: Tyson (53).

Booked: Grant Holt, Prutton.

Goals: Lester 55.

Att: 7,749

Ref: K Woolmer (Northamptonshire).

Dean Wilkins kept faith with the starting line up from the 4-1 win against Leyton Orient on Tuesday. The only change came on the bench with Jake Robinson being replaced by the returning Alex Revell.

It was an edgy start to the game and Forest almost took the leading within the first 3 minutes. A low ball across the edge of the Albion six-yard box from Nathan Tyson somehow failed to end up in the back of the net as Tyson’s strike partner Grant Holt slide in but failed to connect.

Holt returned the favour moments later as he put a cross in for Tyson who’s header looped over the bar from close range when he really should have done better with a free header.

After the early scares the Seagulls started to fight their way back into the game and on the half hour mark they almost took the lead. A deep cross from Dean Cox was meet by Forest defender Wes Morgan and his header dropped just inches wide of Paul Smith’s goal to the relief of the Forest goalkeeper who was wrong footed.

And just moments after Forest had almost gifted the Seagulls the lead the Albion returned the favour. A miss placed pass from Nick Ward in midfield inadvertently put Forest striker Nathan Tyler through on goal but Albion keeper Michel Kuipers pulled off a wonder save as he managed to divert Tyler’s effort over the bar.

The games big turning point came early in the second half as the visitors were reduced to 10 men. An off the ball incident involving Nathan Tyler and Adam El-Abd was spotted by the linesman who signalled to the referee that Tyler had elbowed El-Abd and he was shown a straight red card.

Not put off by being reduced to 10 men it was Forest who took the lead on 55 minutes with a superb solo effort from Jack Lester. Receaving the ball out wide from a throw in Lester cut his way into the Albion area jinking his way through the Albion defence before smashing an unstopable shot past Michel Kuipers from close range.

The Seagulls pulled the scores level on 72 minutes when substitute Nathan Elder was brought down on the edge of the area. Albion captain Dean Hammond stepped up and his low free kick under the wall somehow crept in past Forest keeper Paul Smith.

And the dramatic turn around was completed just a minute later as on loan Midfielder Nick Ward put the Seagulls 2-1 ahead. The Australian midfielder following up his own 20 yards shot, which was parried by Forest keeper Paul Smith, to smash home the rebound home from close range.

Michel Kuipers was once again called into action to pull off another spectacular save from a Prutton volley from 25 yards out. The big Dutchman was also on hand to block the follow up from Junior Agogo at his near post.

In the dying moments Dean Cox almost made it 3-1 to the Seagulls. Alex Revell, making his return from injury as a second half substitute, put in a great cross that Cox threw himself at but failed to connect.

The final whistle was meet by jubilant scenes at the Withdean as they celebrated the first home win in nearly two months. Two wins on the trot and the League One table looks a lot healthier to Seagulls fans as they sit in the top half in 11th place. Up next the Seagulls take on Gillingham on Tuesday at the Priestfield before Bristol City visit the Withdean next Saturday.  

Player ratings
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Kuipers	9/10	Made a string of impressive saves despite picking up an injury early on. Man of the Match
Rents	6/10	His lack of height caused problems and Forest targeted the left back with high balls.
Lynch	7/10	A solid display at the back from Lynch.
 Butters	7/10	Did well as normal in the air and was never caught out of position.
El-Abd	8/10	Needs to work on his passing but very solid defensively and battled hard throughout.
Cox	8/10	Dean had another lively game and almost scored late on.
Ward	7/10	Got off the mark for the club with the winner but wasn’t enjoying a great game upto that point as he kept got caught in possession.
Hammond	8/10	Perhaps a bit fortune his free kick went in but worked hard.
Bertin	9/10	Another good performance from the Frenchman.
Gatting	6/10	Not as effective as on Tuesday.
Savage	8/10	Bas was the sponsors man of the match following another hard working display.
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Subs:		Â
Elder	7/10	Nathan won the free kick which lead to the opening goal. Did a lot of running and played his part in the win.
Revell	7/10	Great to have Revell back so quickly. Looked assured and almost back to his best.
Fraser	6/10	Came on for the last few minutes.

Added on Sunday, February 18th, 2007 at 11:04 am under Match reports by Wilka.