Brighton & Hove Albion 1933-34 Season

Brighton & Hove Albion 1933-34 Season Overview

Brighton & Hove Albion suffered an injury hit campaign in the 1933-34 season with the lack of consistency in team selection leading the Albion to a 10^th placed finish.

Although a slight improvement on the previous year’s 12^th, it was still a disappointing effort as many supporters had been expecting a promotion challenge from Charlie Webb and his players.

A relatively busy summer saw winger Bert Jepson arrive from Fulham, inside forward Jimmy Short from Sheffield Wednesday, wing half Len Darling from Gillingham and most exciting, Welsh international full back Albert Lumberg from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Lumberg was one of several players to be ruled out for a considerable amount of time through injury. 19-year-old Eric Townsend was forced into retirement in October on the advice of a heart specialist and Potter Smith most of the second half of the campaign.

The biggest blow to Brighton’s hopes though came when Arthur Attwood, the Albion’s top scorer for the past two seasons, picked up appendicitis in February. It would be more than year before Attwood played again.

Attwood’s strike partner Dan Kirkwood departed for Luton Town, which left Brighton looking a little short of goals. Thankfully, the Albion’s defence were in excellent form, especially at the Goldstone where they conceded just 18 times all season on their way to losing only twice.

Away from home it was a different story and Brighton won just three times on the road. Aldershot were beaten 1-0 on Saturday 14^th October 1934, Southend United 1-0 on Saturday 10^th March 1934 and bottom side Cardiff City 4-1 on Saturday 14^th April 1934.

The season started with a 2-0 defeat away at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 26^th August 1933. It was QPR’s first game back at Loftus Road after two seasons spent playing at the White City Stadium, venue for the 1908 London Olympics. Brighton won just once from the first six, a 3-1 home win over Torquay United on Wednesday 30^th August 1933, a start that left the Albion floundering in the bottom half of the table.

A 5-1 win over Bristol City on Saturday 16^th September 1933 ended that run and a 3-0 victory over Swindon Town two weeks later pointed to what Brighton could do on their day, but unfortunately there were too few of those.

Three wins in a row over Gillingham (5-2), Cardiff (4-0) and fifth placed finishers Charlton Athletic (1-0) lifted Brighton into 11^th by mid-December and they spent the rest of the campaign hovering between 15^th and that final position of 10^th.

When Attwood was ruled out in February, Webb signed Buster Brown from West Ham United to fill the void in attack. Brown was a burly striker carrying a fair bit of weight but became an overnight sensation with the Albion faithful as he scored 15 goals in his 10 appearances to finish as the club’s top scorer.

Included in Brown’s haul were two hat-tricks in the space of five days. He notched a treble in the biggest win of the campaign, a 6-0 success at the Goldstone Ground over Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic on Saturday 21^st April 1934 with another three goal haul following in the Division Three South Cup semi final exit to Exeter City as the Albion lost 4-3 on Thursday 26^th April 1934.

The Division Three South Cup was a new competition for the 1933-34 and Brighton enjoyed themselves in it, eliminating Newport County (1-0) and QPR (2-1) on their way to the last four.

It took three games to separate the Albion and Exeter, the first game ending 1-1 at Craven Cottage. Neutral venues were ditched for the two subsequent replays, another 1-1 draw at St James Park followed by Exeter’s 4-3 success in that seven goal thriller at the Goldstone.

Brighton’s run to the fifth round of the 1932-33 season FA Cup meant that they were exempted to the third round of the competition. Division Three South rivals Swindon Town came to the Goldstone on Saturday 13^th January 1934 and were dispatched 3-1.

That brought Division Two side Bolton Wanderers to Hove in round four on Saturday 27^th January 1934 with the sides sharing a 1-1 draw. The Albion were blown away 6-1 in the replay at Burnden Park four days later.