180 seconds... was it season-defining?
You can boil an egg in 180 seconds. You can pour a perfect pint of a well-known black stout from Ireland in 180 seconds. But can you turn around a football season which was heading off the rails in 180 seconds?Brighton will be hoping so. With 89 minutes on the clock at the Amex on Saturday, plenty of Albion fans who had not walked out when West Ham went 2-1 ahead six minutes earlier were preparing to go into meltdown.Graham Potter was getting ready to celebrate the Hammers ending their six-game winless run.It seemed set to be the ultimate blow for those Seagulls supporters still unable to forgive Potter for walking out to join Chelsea in September 2022, followed by comments like "If I wanted an easy life, I would have stayed at Brighton."Doctor Brighton had cured another opposition's ailing form. The Albion meanwhile were about to make it seven games of their own without victory. Leaving any hope of European football hanging by the thinnest of threads.That was until everything changed. In 180 seconds. Kaoru Mitoma equalised and Carlos Baleba struck a 93rd minute rocket as the Albion somehow staged an epic comeback.It left Potter as the crestfallen one, talking in a madcap post-match press conference about swearing and not being a robot.What has characterised Brighton under Fabian Hurzeler this season is the way they go on lengthy good runs of form and lengthy bad runs of form. One incident or performance has often determined what happens for the next five or six games.This trait has been most evident over the past two months. Lose 7-0. Win six in a row. Get knocked out the FA Cup. Don't win again for another six in a row.Which is why what happened against West Ham has the potential to be season-defining. Is it the spark the Albion need to go on a run of results over the final four games and qualify for Europe? Fingers crossed.Find more from Scott McCarthy at We Are Brighton, external
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