Brighton Have Nothing to Lose: Stephen Ward Interview

Brighton will be going into Sunday’s Championship play-off second leg tie against Derby knowing that only a victory will give them any chance of progressing to the richest game in football. The Seagulls trail Derby 2-1, but don’t have to worry about away goals as they’re not a factor in play-off fixtures.

In a surprisingly open game at the Amex and to Oscar Garcia’s disbelief, the Seagulls had two penalty appeals turned down before on loan Manchester United man Jesse Lingard arrived in the box to slot home. Derby, who finished third in The Championship turned things around before half time, firstly through a Chris Martin penalty and then in first half stoppage time, a cruel own goal via Thomas Kuszczak as Martin’s shot from the edge of the area struck the crossbar, hit the Polish stopper’s back before dropping into the net.

Brighton will take a lot from the game and feel that the tie is far from over considering their fine away form this season.

On loan defender Stephen Ward still has belief going into the second leg: “We go up there with nothing to lose, it’s a similar situation to last weekend when we found ourselves going to Nottingham Forest knowing that we needed to win to get into the play-offs.

Ward went on to say; “It’s really in the balance, I feel that there’s not much in it, I think the first goal on Sunday is going to be vital.

Any score line when you’re up at half time can be dangerous, it’s probably a little bit different for us because we now know that we have to go for it, whereas Derby can approach the game a little bit differently.”

Can Brighton overcome the odds to book their place in the final at Wembley? We’ll find out this Sunday if the dream can get ever closer to becoming a reality.