5:00pm Saturday 20th March 2010
By Brian Owen
Elliott Bennett scored a wonder goal as Albion won 2-0 at Oldham today.
A farcical own goal after the break and Peter Brezovan's late penalty save completed the job for the Seagulls, who go 15th and are now seven points clear of the drop zone.
Bennett, who had switched over to the left flank earlier in the half, cut inside on the edge of the box and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the far top corner on 40 minutes.
Oldham fans generously applauded a fabulous goal which was totally out of keeping with a grey, rain-lashed day at Boundary Park.
It was never a classic but Albion produced the neater passing of the two sides and, after escaping an early scare, were worthy winners.
Pawel Abbott should have punished them for a slow start but headed a great chance wide inside two minutes.
Abbott also had a header well saved right on half-time by Brezovan, who got up quickly to smother Chris Taylor's close-range follow-up effort.
Instead it was Albion who scored at that end 13 minutes into the second period, or rather the hosts who got it for them.
Glenn Murray initially caused problems, the ball was worked to Seb Carole on the right and his low cross was missed by Gary Dicker but turned into his own net by Jon Worthington.
Carole was brought in to replace injured Kazenga LuaLua as boss Gus Poyet stuck with his 4-5-1, or 4-3-3, set-up.
He was rewarded by an ultra-professional display which saw Albion maintain steely command until the 83rd minute.
Then Tommy Elphick was adjudged to have handled an Abbott drive at close quarters just inside the box.
Abbott stepped up looking for third spot kick conversion in successive games but Brezovan blocked his blast superbly and saw Tom Eaves thrash the rebound against the underside of the bar.
That completed a miserable afternoon for most of a crowd of 4,059 - and confirmed a great day for 459 travelling fans.
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