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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: Brighton v West Ham

Blast from the past

Today’s blast from the past features a 1-0 victory at the Goldstone Ground against tomorrow’s opponents, Brighton. It arrived just over 104 years ago, on the 13th December 1913 in front of 6,000 spectators. H. H. Asquith was Prime Minister and, the day before, the stolen Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence after Vincenzo Perugia was arrested while trying to sell it. Music hall singer Alec Hurley had died the previous week – Hurley was the second husband of music hall singer and comedienne Marie Lloyd, who was best known for her performances of ‘My Old Man (Said Follow The Van)’.

22-year-old Lincolnshire-born forward Dick Leafe (pictured), formerly of Boston Town, Grimsby and Sheffield United, scored the only goal of the game as the Hammers ran out 1-0 winners – it was Leafe’s tenth goal in 15 games since making his debut three months earlier. When Leafe retired from playing in 1922, having scored 44 goals in 106 appearances for West Ham United, he took on the job of assistant secretary at the club until the management was forced to reduce the staff at the outbreak of World War Two.

Syd King’s Hammers ended the 1913/14 season sixth in the Southern League First Division; Leafe finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 21 goals in 37 matches. Brighton were to finish seventh. Swindon won the Southern League First Division, Blackburn won the league title and Burnley won the FA Cup.

West Ham United: Tommy Lonsdale, Tom Brandon, George Irvine, Tommy Randall, Bill Askew, Dan Woodards, Herbert Ashton, Syd Puddefoot, Bertie Denyer, Dick Leafe, George Hilsdon.

Club Connections

Brighton manager Chris Hughton and striker Sam Baldock welcome their former club to the AMEX Stadium. Other players who have appeared for both clubs include:

Goalkeeper: Harry Medhurst.

Defenders: Len Young, Dennis Burnett, Mauricio Taricco, Tommy McAteer, Matthew Upson, Keith McPherson, William Kelly and Wayne Bridge.

Midfielders: Sebastien Carole, Bertie Lutton, John Payne, George Parris and Tony Stokes.

Strikers: Brian Dear, Tommy Dixon, Justin Fashanu, Greg Campbell, Sam Jennings, Sam Small, Herbert Lyon, Bobby Zamora, Dave Sexton and Mike Small.

In addition, Alan Curbishley played for both clubs and managed West Ham. Ex-Hammers Archie Macaulay and Liam Brady have managed Brighton.

This week’s focus though is on a player who spent just over five years with the Hammers before enjoying a season with the Seagulls. Paul Kitson was born in Murton, County Durham on 9th January 1971 and started his career at Leicester, where he won England Under-21 caps. He joined Derby in March 1992 for a club record £1.3m before moving to Newcastle in September 1994 for £2.25m.

The arrivals of Les Ferdinand, Faustino Asprilla and Alan Shearer restricted Kitson’s gametime however and the 26-year-old striker agreed to move to Harry Redknapp’s struggling West Ham United in February 1997 for a fee of £2.3m, alongside fellow new striker signing John Hartson who arrived from Arsenal. The pair made their debuts in a 1-0 defeat at Kitson’s former club Derby on 15th February 1997 but quickly struck up a lethal partnership which would steer the Irons to Premier League survival. Both scored on their home debuts, a 4-3 win over Tottenham at Upton Park on 24th February 1997, while Kitson’s double against Chelsea on 12th March included an injury-time winner in a 3-2 home victory. Another brace followed on 19th April, this time against Everton – the Hammers were 2-0 up but a missed penalty by Kitson, who had been handed the ball by Hartson to complete his hat-trick, gave the Toffees the impetus to come back and claim a point in a 2-2 draw. The crowning glory came on 3rd May when a Kitson hat-trick and Hartson double downed Sheffield Wednesday 5-1 to all but secure the Hammers’ safety.

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Kitson scored his first Hammers goal away from Upton Park in a 1-1 draw at Coventry on 27th August 1997 but an injury picked up in mid-September would keep him out for three months. The Hammers left their relegation worries of the previous season behind them to finish eighth in 1997/98 but Kitson would make only 17 appearances. He scored three goals in four games on his return in December, all of them winners in a 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, 1-0 win over Coventry on Boxing Day and 2-1 triumph at Wimbledon. He was also on the scoresheet in a 2-2 FA Cup fifth round home draw with Blackburn on 14th February 1998.

A similar story followed in 1998/99, with Kitson again making 17 appearances and scoring three goals as the Irons finished fifth – he scored in a 3-2 home win over former club Leicester on 14th November 1998, notched the winner at Stamford Bridge in a 1-0 Hammers victory on 13th March 1999 and scored the second in a 2-0 win over another former club, Newcastle, the following week. Kitson scored the first West Ham goal of 1999/2000 in a 1-0 home win over Finnish side Jokerit in the first leg of the InterToto Cup third round on 17th July 1999. The Hammers won the competition and Kitson’s next goal would come in the UEFA Cup, in a 3-1 first round second leg win in Croatia against Osijek on 30th September. He also came off the bench to score a late equaliser at Birmingham in the League Cup fourth round on 30th November, the Hammers going on to win 3-2. Kitson would spend a period on loan at First Division Charlton later in the season.

Another loan spell followed in the first half of 2000/01, this time at Crystal Palace. With Glenn Roeder taking over from Redknapp at the end of that season, Kitson found himself with a renewed opportunity at West Ham and made his first start in claret and blue for 21 months at Charlton on 19th November 2001. Almost two years on from his previous goal for the club, Kitson astonishingly bagged a hat-trick at The Valley in a topsy-turvy 4-4 draw. He made four more starts in 2001/02 but was released at the end of his contract in the summer. Kitson had scored 22 goals in 81 appearances in his five years at the club.

The 31-year-old Kitson joined First Division Brighton on a free transfer, teaming up with future Hammers striker Bobby Zamora at the Withdean Stadium. Kitson scored two goals in ten appearances as the Seagulls failed to maintain their second tier status – he notched the winner in a 2-1 triumph at Reading on 4th April 2003 and also scored in a 4-0 home victory over Watford on 26th April.

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Kitson moved to Second Division Rushden and Diamonds for the 2003/04 campaign, scoring five goals in 28 matches and ended his career at Aldershot the following year. Now 47, Kitson was last known to be living in Teesside where he co-owned a company away from football with his wife and her brother.

Referee

Saturday’s referee will be Roger East; the Wiltshire-based official has been taking charge of Premier League fixtures since 2012 but has only taken charge of four previous West Ham matches in the top flight, those being the 1-1 home draw with Stoke in April 2015, the 3-2 home defeat to Leicester in last March, the 0-0 draw with Everton last April and, most recently, our 1-0 home win over Swansea in September.

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The 52-year-old has also refereed the Hammers in the FA Cup, for the fourth round replay win over Liverpool in February 2016 and for the 2-1 quarter-final replay defeat to Manchester United in April of the same year. He also sent off Portsmouth’s Liam Lawrence and West Ham’s Frederic Piquionne in the Irons’ 4-3 home win over Pompey in September 2011.

Possible line-ups

Brighton are likely to be without midfielder Steve Sidwell, winger Jiri Skalak and striker Jurgen Locadia.

West Ham United are without the injured Pedro Obiang, Edimilson Fernandes, Manuel Lanzini, Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll as well as Arthur Masuaku, who serves the second game of his six-match ban. Michail Antonio should return to the squad but Winston Reid is a major doubt. New signing Jordan Hugill comes into the squad.

Possible Brighton XI: Ryan; Schelotto, Dunk, Duffy, Boog; March, Propper, Stephens, Izquierdo; Gross; Murray.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Byram, Collins, Ogbonna, Rice, Cresswell; Zabaleta, Kouyate, Noble; Mario; Chicharito.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

Follow @dan_coker on twitter.

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