Brighton & Hove Albion 1929-30 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1929-30 Season Overview

The 1929-30 season saw a new-look Brighton & Hove Albion side enjoy a much-improved campaign to finish fifth in Division Three South. Not only were league performances good, but there was also a remarkable run in the FA Cup in which the Albion eliminated two top flight opponents on the way to a fifth round exit, the furthest that the club had ever progressed in the competition.

Following the 15^th placed finish of 1928-29, Brighton manager Charlie Webb undertook a mass rebuilding of his squad over the summer. A number of stalwarts said goodbye to the Goldstone Ground, most notably record scorer Tommy Cook who left to take up a cricket coaching post in South Africa after 123 Brighton goals and one England cap. Regular goalkeeper Reg Williams retired, as did Jack Jenkins while Wally Little and Jimmy Hopkins moved on to Clapton Orient and Aldershot respectively.

Coming in, Webb secured the signings of Harry Marsden from Nottingham Forest, Geordie Nicol from Manchester United, Harold Sly from Gillingham, Potter Smith from Cardiff City, Dave Walker from Walsall and Hugh Vallance from Queens Park Ranger. The majority of the new arrivals made a good impression, but none more so than Vallance who became the first Brighton player to score 30 league goals in a season. Nobody would break that barrier again until Peter Ward’s record-setting 36 in the 1976-77 season, 47 years later.

Vallance’s partnership with Dan Kirkwood was pivotal to the Albion’s success. Kirkwood himself hit 28 league goals for a total of 31 in all competitions. Vallance notched twice in the FA Cup run to just finish ahead of his strike partner on 32 in all competitions to take the top scorer accolade. With such firepower at their disposal, it was no surprise that Brighton’s total of 87 goals was the most that they had managed in a single season.

The campaign began with a 1-0 defeat away at Bristol Rovers on Saturday 31^st August 1929. The first win was recorded when Watford were beaten 2-1 at the Goldstone Ground on Wednesday 4^th September 1929 with a home debut brace for Potter Smith and after that, the Albion didn’t sink below eighth for the rest of the campaign.

A 4-0 win over Walsall on Saturday 7^th December 1929 lifted Brighton into third and they remained there for pretty much the next five months right up until the final game, a 4-1 defeat away at Clapton Orient on Saturday 3^rd May 1930 – the last game played at Clapton Stadium before Orient moved to the Lea Bridge Stadium – which dropped the Albion to their final positioning of fifth. Despite sitting third for so long, Brighton were never really in the title race as Plymouth Argyle and Brentford slugged it out with the Plymouth eventually taking the championship on 68 points, 18 ahead of the Albion.

The Goldstone faithful witnessed some big score lines from free-scoring Brighton. Norwich City were beaten 6-3 on Saturday 7^th September 1929, Fulham 5-0 on Saturday 21^st December 1929 and Torquay United 5-0 on Saturday 8^th February 1930. The Albion scored four on five separate occasions while the 8-2 win at bottom side Merthyr Town on Saturday 1^st February 1930 is Brighton’s club-record away win to this day.

That memorable FA Cup run began with the visit of Southern League side Peterborough & Fletton United to the Goldstone on Saturday 30^th November 1929. The non-leaguers – the forerunners to the modern day Peterborough who were founded in 1934 – were well beaten 4-0 with Brighton eliminating Barry Town 4-1 at Hove in the second round on Saturday 14^th December 1929.

The third round threw up a home tie with top flight Grimsby Town. Nothing could separate the sides in a 1-1 draw which took place on Saturday 11^th January 1930, the Brighton goal coming from the injured Harry Dutton. In the replay four days later, Vallance scored the only goal of the game with a glancing header three minutes from time to give the Albion a famous scalp.

South coast rivals Portsmouth were up next in round four. The sides remained fierce rivals despite not having faced each other since the 1923-24 campaign, since when Pompey had risen to the top flight. They had lost the previous season’s FA Cup Final 2-0 against Bolton Wanderers but despite the apparent gap in class between Portsmouth and the Albion, it was the visitors who picked up a magnificent 1-0 win in front of 37,522 at Fratton Park. Vallance was again the hero, scoring this time in the 62^nd minute.

Brighton’s first ever outing in the fifth round would come at Newcastle United. 56,469 watched at St James’ Park as Newcastle’s talented side tore apart their third tier visitors with Hughie Gallacher scoring a hat-trick in a 3-0 win for the hosts.