Brighton & Hove Albion 1921-22 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1921-22 Season Overview

Brighton & Hove Albion’s 1921-22 season was a severe disappointment for all concerned, although it would have been even worse were it not for the goal scoring exploits of Jack Doran.

The Irish international scored 23 of the Albion’s 45 Division Three South goals. No other player managed to find the back of the net in the first 13 games of the campaign until Andy Neil joined Doran by scoring in a 2-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday 29^th October 1921.

After the campaign opened with a 0-0 draw at home to Southend United on Saturday 27^th August 1921, Doran scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Exeter City on Wednesday 31^st August 1921, a brace in a 2-1 win over Southend at The Kursaal on Saturday 3^rd September 1921 and then another treble when Exeter were beaten 3-1 at the Goldstone Ground on Wednesday 7^th September 1921.

That blistering start to the season left the Albion top of the division. Brighton fans had been quietly confident after a busy summer on the transfer front, but it became readily apparent that relying so heavily on one player to score was not a strategy conducive to a promotion push.

After hitting top spot, Brighton recorded one draw and six defeats from their next seven games. From that point on, the 1921-22 season became a became full of frustrating inconsistency. One week, the Albion would hammer Northampton Town 7-0 (Doran scoring five) at the Goldstone, the next they would play the return fixture against the Cobblers and lose 2-0 at the County Ground.

Other notable victories included a 2-1 victory over fifth place Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 19^th November 1921 and a stunning 3-0 success over title contenders Portsmouth at the Goldstone on Saturday 21^st January 1922. Unfortunately for Charlie Webb and his players, there were only 3,000 present to see that best win of the campaign.

Among the most disappointing defeats were a pair of 1-0 late season losses to Gillingham and Goldstone setbacks against Norwich City (0-2) on Christmas Ever and  Merthyr Town (1-3) on Saturday 4^th February 1922.

Doran was injured on Boxing Day 1921, a further blow to Webb’s hopes of trying to eke some consistency. The Albion’s talisman was in-and-out of the side in the second half of the season as he struggled to get back to full fitness, missing 13 games which made his 23-goal haul even more remarkable – and enough to secure a summer move to Manchester City for a considerable fee of £1,050.

Brighton sat 11^th going into the Easter Weekend and a top half finish looked on the cards. They only won once from their final six games however, a 2-1 Goldstone success against Brentford on Tuesday 17^th April 1922 with Doran scoring his final goals in Albion colours, to fall to a 19^th place finish. Although finishing in the relegation zone never seemed on the cards, Brighton were just one point above the bottom two by the time the season finished.

In the FA Cup, the Albion eliminated Division One opponents in the first round for the second season running. Given that Webb was forced to pick a number of players out of position as flu ravaged his squad, the 1-0 win over Sheffield United on Saturday 7^th January 1922 was arguably more impressive than the 4-1 victory over Oldham Athletic from the previous campaign.

Round two saw Huddersfield Town come to the Goldstone. Herbert Chapman’s Terriers would go onto lift the FA Cup by beating Preston North End in the final, but they needed a replay to get past the Albion. A 0-0 draw at the Goldstone was watched by a new record crowd of 22,241 before Huddersfield’s quality told in a replay at Leeds Road four days later, running out 2-0 winners.