Albion’s Second Tier Season Comparison – 6 games

Carlos Corberán’s Baggies made it five wins and a draw from their opening six games with a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle to make it the best league start from an Albion side since Ossie Ardiles’ team matched the achievement in 1992. No Baggies team has won the first six league games of a campaign and only two other Albion seasons have started with five wins and a draw, in 1947 and 1953. Ossie’s team, of course, won promotion via the play-offs while Vic Buckingham’s 1953/54 team would finish runners-up in the First Division. The 1947/48 season did not end as well as Albion eventually finished seventh and missed out on promotion – it would prove to be the last of the great Fred Everiss’s 46 years in charge of the team.

Josh Maja’s sixth goal of the season means that nine of Albion’s ten Championship goals have been scored by players whose surname begins with ‘M’. Maja also surpasses Lee Hughes’ start to the 1998/99 league season – Hughsie only had five from the first six league games, as did Bob Taylor in 1992/93. Both did score twice in game seven, however, so Maja needs to score at Hillsborough to keep up!

Other players to have league started a season scoring as well in an Albion shirt are true legends of the club. The last Baggie to do it was Jeff Astle who scored six in six at the beginning of the both the 1970/71 and 1965/66 campaigns, while Ronnie Allen matched that feat at the start of the 1957/58 season and Johnny Nicholls did so in 1953/54. It has been bettered, however – Ginger Richardson scored seven in the first six league matches in 1934/35 which was actually the season before he set the club record of 39 league goals in a campaign, while Jimmy Cookson scored nine in six at the start of the 1929/30 campaign and ten in the first six of the 1927/28 season, including all six in a 6-3 win over Blackpool in game six!

Home Away Season End
Pld W D L F A Pts Posn* W D L F A Pts W D L F A Pts Posn Pts
1988/1989 6 2 3 1 6 4 9 7th 1 1 1 3 2 4 1 2 0 3 2 5 9th 72
1989/1990 6 2 2 2 9 10 8 15th 1 1 1 4 6 4 1 1 1 5 4 4 20th 51
1990/1991 6 2 3 1 8 6 9 15th 1 1 1 3 3 4 1 2 0 5 3 5 23rd 48
1993/1994 6 2 2 2 9 8 8 8th 2 1 0 8 5 7 0 1 2 1 3 1 21st 51
1994/1995 6 0 4 2 5 8 4 24th 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 2 4 7 3 19th 58
1995/1996 6 3 2 1 8 5 11 4th 2 1 0 4 1 7 1 1 1 4 4 4 11th 60
1996/1997 6 2 2 2 9 9 8 14th 1 0 2 6 8 3 1 2 0 3 1 5 16th 57
1997/1998 6 4 2 0 8 4 14 1st 3 0 0 4 1 9 1 2 0 4 3 5 10th 61
1998/1999 6 3 1 2 14 11 10 7th 2 0 1 8 4 6 1 1 1 6 7 4 12th 59
1999/2000 6 2 4 0 7 5 10 7th 0 3 0 2 2 3 2 1 0 5 3 7 21st 49
2000/2001 6 2 1 3 4 8 7 10th 2 0 1 3 3 6 0 1 2 1 5 1 6th 74
2001/2002 6 3 1 2 9 5 10 9th 2 0 1 5 1 6 1 1 1 4 4 4 2nd 89
2003/2004 6 5 0 1 12 6 15 1st 3 0 0 9 2 9 2 0 1 3 4 6 2nd 86
2006/2007 6 3 2 1 7 4 11 3rd 3 0 0 6 1 9 0 2 1 1 3 2 4th 76
2007/2008 6 3 1 2 10 4 10 5th 3 0 0 8 0 9 0 1 2 2 4 1 1st 81
2009/2010 6 4 2 0 12 6 14 1st 2 1 0 6 2 7 2 1 0 6 4 7 2nd 91
2018/2019 6 3 1 2 15 9 10 8th 2 0 1 10 4 6 1 1 1 5 5 4 4th 80
2019/2020 6 3 3 0 10 7 12 4th 1 2 0 5 4 5 2 1 0 5 3 7 2nd 83
2021/2022 6 4 2 0 13 6 14 1st 2 1 0 8 3 7 2 1 0 5 3 7 10th 67
2022/2023 6 1 4 1 10 8 7 15th 1 2 0 6 3 5 0 2 1 4 5 2 9th 66
2023/2024 6 2 2 2 10 9 8 12th 2 0 1 8 6 6 0 2 1 2 3 2 5th 75
2024/2025 6 5 1 0 10 2 16 1st 2 1 0 2 0 7 3 0 0 8 2 9
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.

Results

1988/1989 21/09/1988 Brighton & Hove Albion (A) W 1-0 Bremner (o.g.)
1989/1990 16/09/1989 Oxford United (H) W 3-2 Robson, Greenall (o.g.), Bradley
1990/1991 29/09/1990 Oldham Athletic (H) D 0-0
1993/1994 11/09/1993 Notts County (A) L 0-1
1994/1995 17/09/1994 Grimsby Town (H) D 1-1 Ashcroft
1995/1996 09/09/1995 Oldham Athletic (A) W 2-1 Taylor, Gilbert
1996/1997 15/09/1996 Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) L 2-4 Hamilton, Taylor
1997/1998 07/09/1997 Reading (H) W 1-0 Hunt
1998/1999 08/09/1998 Bolton Wanderers (H) L 2-3 Flynn, Kilbane
1999/2000 11/09/1999 Birmingham City (A) D 1-1 Hughes
2000/2001 09/09/2000 Stockport County (A) D 0-0
2001/2002 15/09/2001 Watford (A) W 2-1 Dobie (2)
2003/2004 13/09/2003 Ipswich Town (H) W 4-1 Gaardsøe, Hulse (2), Diallo (o.g.)
2006/2007 09/09/2006 Leicester City (H) W 2-0 Kenton (o.g.), Phillips (pen)
2007/2008 18/09/2007 Bristol City (A) D 1-1 Koren
2009/2010 12/09/2009 Plymouth Argyle (H) W 3-1 Martis, Cech (2)
2018/2019 01/09/2018 Stoke City (H) W 2-1 Gayle (2)
2019/2020 31/08/2019 Blackburn Rovers (H) W 3-2 Phillips, Livermore, Diangana
2021/2022 11/09/2021 Millwall (H) D 1-1 Bartley
2022/2023 27/08/2022 Huddersfield Town (A) D 2-2 Wallace (2)
2023/2024 16/09/2023 Bristol City (A) D 0-0
2024/2025 21/09/2024 Plymouth Argyle (H) W 1-0 Maja

Next Matches

1988/1989 24/09/1988 Plymouth Argyle (A) D 1-1 Phillips
1989/1990 23/09/1989 Oldham Athletic (A) L 1-2 West
1990/1991 02/10/1990 Plymouth Argyle (A) L 0-2
1993/1994 18/09/1993 Crystal Palace (H) L 1-4 Taylor
1994/1995 24/09/1994 Burnley (H) W 1-0 Taylor
1995/1996 12/09/1995 Tranmere Rovers (A) D 2-2 Hunt, Ashcroft (pen)
1996/1997 21/09/1996 Tranmere Rovers (A) W 3-2 Gilbert, Peschisolido, Groves
1997/1998 13/09/1997 Queen’s Park Rangers (A) L 0-2
1998/1999 13/09/1998 Bristol City (A) W 3-1 Hughes (2), Quinn
1999/2000 18/09/1999 Blackburn Rovers (H) D 2-2 Kilbane (2)
2000/2001 12/09/2000 Crewe Alexandra (A) W 1-0 Hughes
2001/2002 18/09/2001 Preston North End (H) W 2-0 Dobie (2)
2003/2004 16/09/2003 Wigan Athletic (A) L 0-1
2006/2007 12/09/2006 Preston North End (A) L 0-1
2007/2008 22/09/2007 Scunthorpe United (A) W 3-2 Barnett, Brunt, Teixeira
2009/2010 15/09/2009 Doncaster Rovers (H) W 3-1 Olsson (2), Wood
2018/2019 14/09/2018 Birmingham City (A) D 1-1 Phillips
2019/2020 14/09/2019 Fulham (A) D 1-1 Ajayi
2021/2022 14/09/2021 Derby County (H) D 0-0
2022/2023 30/08/2022 Wigan Athletic (A) D 1-1 Grant
2023/2024 20/09/2023 Watford (A) D 2-2 Swift, Wallace
2024/2025 28/09/2024 Sheffield Wednesday (A)

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