Brighton & Hove Albion 1930-31 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1930-31 Season Overview

The 1930-31 season saw Brighton & Hove Albion record another fourth placed finish in Division Three South, the fourth time in nine years in which they equalled their best ever placing. For a large part of the campaign however, the Albion were in promotion contention until a shock defeat against Football League newcomers Thames in late February threw the entire season off its stride.

Brighton were sitting second when Thames came to the Goldstone Ground on February 28^th 1931, some six points off leaders Notts County. Having only conceded eight goals at home all season, to lose 4-2 to a side who didn’t record another away victory in the entire campaign was a shocking result.

Worse was what it did to Brighton’s form. They won just four of their remaining 12 fixtures, a run which ended any hopes of promotion as the eventually finished 10 point adrift of Notts County. Crystal Palace and Brentford were the two other sides to end the campaign above the Albion.

Manager Charlie Webb kept faith largely with the players who had delivered a fifth placed finish in the 1929-30 season. Webb made just three additions, bringing in Frank Brett from Northampton Town, Joe Duckworth from Reading and Billy Moffatt from Portsmouth.

The Albion began the season poorly, drawing 0-0 at Gillingham on Saturday 30^th August 1930 and losing 2-1 at home to Southend United on Wednesday 3^rd September 1930. Brighton’s first win came when Exeter City were beaten 3-2 at the Goldstone Ground on Saturday 6^th September, but that was one of only two victories from the opening nine fixtures – the other coming over Luton Town, 2-0 on Wednesday 17^th September 1930.

To make matters worse, Webb lost the services of two key players before September was out. The previous season’s 32-goal top scorer Hugh Vallance and Jack Curran were both released from their contracts for “serious misdemeanours”, leaving Brighton 18^th in the table and needing to replace the first player to break the 30 goal mark in a campaign.

Webb turned to reserve team half back Jack Carruthers, an inspired decision as Carruthers plundered eight goals in 13 games. Geordie Nicol top scored with 19 and the reliable Dan Kirkwood helped himself to 13, but it was little surprise to see Brighton struggle in front of goal otherwise as they managed 19 fewer than in 1929-30, netting a total of 68 which was never likely to be enough to base a title challenge on.

The release of Vallance and Curran did not prove to be the disaster that many feared it might. In fact, Brighton’s form improved dramatically and it was in the aftermath of the duo’s departures that the Albion launched the 16 game unbeaten run which lifted them into the promotion picture.

They drew 2-2 against Notts County at Meadow Lane on Saturday 8^th November as part of that run while Christmas proved to be particularly fruitful as Bristol Rovers were hammered 4-0 at the Goldstone Ground on Boxing Day 1930 and Gillingham 5-0 in Hove 24 hours later.

Back-to-back 1-0 victories over eventual third place finishers Brentford on Saturday 7^th February 1931 and runners up Palace a week later on Saturday 14^th February 1931 lifted expectations but two weeks later, Thames won at the Goldstone and it was downhill from there. As bad as the collapse was, the 15 draws Brighton recorded were equally responsible for the 10 point gap to Notts County and the most Brighton had recorded in a Division Three South season.

Following the previous year’s heroics in reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup by knocking out top flight Grimsby Town and Portsmouth, Brighton were exempted until the third round stage in the 1930-31 season where they were paired with another Division One club, Leicester City.

The Albion once again underlined their growing reputation as dangerous opponents for higher league clubs by pulling off another shock at Filbert Street. Leicester took the lead inside of five minutes through Arthur Lochhead but Brighton battled back in the second half to win 3-1 as Potter Smith scored twice.

The fourth round draw gave the Albion a trip to Vicarage Road to take on fellow Division Three South outfit Watford. While Brighton were in the midst of a promotion push, Watford were battling relegation, making the Albion confident of progression to round five for the second season running. Brighton never got going though and were well beaten 2-0. Remarkably, it was the fifth time in seven years that the clubs had faced each other in the FA Cup and easily the most disappointing result from an Albion point of view in those meetings.