Athletic pulled off one of their best wins of the season over Brighton and truly made Boundary Park a fortress once again. Brighton even had the ignominity of having leading scorer Bobby Zamora was sent off for violent conduct after kicking Chris Armstrong. He will now serve a three match ban as the promotion race hots up. In a game of few chances Appleby put Athletic in front with their first shot on target when he slammed it in an 18 yard volley. Brighton did have a few chances which the Latics defence coped with admirably. Another excellent
shot from a 20 yard free kick by Eyres (pictured) flew high into the top corner and sealed the Seagulls fate after 81 minutes. It also put Athletic back in the thick of the promotion race.
Wadsworth commented, “In football terms, it wasn't the best of games but that was due to the windy conditions. This was a very big result for us because
Brighton are a good team and we need to keep winning to stay in the hunt for the play-offs."
"There were three incidents which went our way. Firstly our keeper Paul Rachubka made a great save from a chance you would expect Brighton to score from. Secondly, having Bobby Zamora sent off gave us a big advantage and he would usually have put away the chance which hit the bar. Finally, our second goal killed it off and it was a wonderful strike from David Eyres who has a great left foot.”