Brighton & Hove Albion 1926-27 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1926-27 Season Overview

For much of the 1926-27 Division Three South season, Brighton & Hove Albion were in title contention. They topped the table in December and went into the Easter Weekend in second place behind Bristol City after inflicting on the eventual champions the only league defeat they suffered all season at Ashton Gate.

But one win from the final six matches ended the Albion’s hopes of promotion as they fell away to finish fourth, nine points behind City and also below Plymouth Argyle and Millwall. Although that was a disappointing way to end the campaign, it was nonetheless another excellent season for Brighton.

The season began in poor fashion with a 4-0 defeat away at Brentford on Saturday 28^th August 1926, followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace four days later on Wednesday 1^st September 1926. Once the Albion got a first win under their belts when beating Millwall 3-1 at the Goldstone Ground on Saturday 4^th September 1926, there was no stopping them as they went 14 games unbeaten.

That run included a magnificent club-record winning streak of 10 matches. Brighton weren’t just winning either, but winning convincingly. Swindon Town were thrashed 9-3 at the Goldstone on Saturday 18^th September 1926 and other hammerings included a 4-0 win over Merthyr Town on Saturday 2^nd October 1926 and 4-1 victories against Watford on Saturday 23^rd October 1926 and Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 6^th November.

Bristol City were also well beaten as part of that run, the Albion defeating City 3-0 at the Goldstone on Saturday 27^th November 1926 to make it four weeks in top spot. The streak ended with a 2-1 defeat at home to Plymouth on Saturday 4^th December, a result which turned the Albion from an unbeatable machine into a side who found consistency hard to come by.

Their next two league games saw Aberdare Athletic (3-1) and Northampton Town (2-0) beaten, but that was followed by a run of five games without a victory. A 7-0 win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday 29^th January 1927 was Brighton’s biggest ever but not even that could spark a return to the form of the first half of the season as mixed results followed.

The 2-0 victory at Ashton Gate  on Saturday 9^th April 1927 made it three wins on the spin after games successes against Newport County (1-0) and Charlton Athletic (3-2) but the Albion drew 1-1 with Luton Town in their next match and lost the next three against Bournemouth (0-2), Luton (0-4) and Plymouth (0-2), which ended any hopes of winning the Division Three South championship with two games still to play.

Barnet provided the opposition in the first round of the FA Cup with the Albion comfortably beating their Athenian League visitors 3-0 on Saturday 27^th November 1926. The second round draw paired Brighton with Watford, making 1926-27 the third season in succession in which the clubs had met in the competition.

Tommy Cook scored the only goal of the game at Vicarage Road on Saturday 11^th December 1926 to set up a trip to Division One Sheffield Wednesday. Top flight Wednesday proved too good and Brighton were well beaten 2-0 on their trip to Hillsborough.

Cook scored 21 times but that wasn’t enough to see him finish as Brighton’s top scorer with Sam Jennings enjoying an extraordinary campaign to lead the way with 25.