Two members of the 2016/17 promotion-winning squad Sam Baldock and Connor Goldson have joined Adam Tighe for the latest in our series of ‘catch-up up calls.'
Baldock was a £2m signing from Bristol City, where he had scored 26 goals the previous season, in the summer of 2014 while Goldson arrived from Shrewsbury in August 2015 in a £750,000 move.
Baldock admitted he wondered whether he’d made the right decision after struggling to adapt to Sami Hypia’s formation of one up front, having been used to playing in a pair for City.
“He introduced a possession-based style but that season we tended to concede early goals a lot and struggling to break teams down who would just sit in and defend against us,” he said. “When Chris Hughton came in we did get away from the relegation zone but yeah, I did think I’d made a mistake but then obviously things improved a lot.”
Both players admit the climax to the 2015-16 season, when Albion lost in the play-offs to Sheffield Wednesday, was the hardest part of their Albion careers.
The Seagulls drew 1-1 at Middlesbrough when victory would have sealed automatic promotion, finishing the game with ten men Dale Stephens was controversially shown a straight red card for a second-half challenge.
Then four players, including Goldson, were injured during the first leg of the play-off semi at Hillsborough, while suspensions to Stephens and Lewis Dunk further depleted the ranks.
Baldock said: “I was dragged off at half-time at Boro and remember being devastated and started kicking the kit skip in the toilets in frustration. I didn’t realise the gaffer was still in the changing room!”
Goldson recalls that Albion still felt they could overturn the 2-0 first-leg deficit against Wednesday. “It’s funny because I was sitting on the bench having come off with a torn quad muscle and they were just knocking it about at the back happy with a 2-0 lead.”
Despite going in front in the second leg at a fervent Amex, Wednesday went through after a 1-1 draw but the following season, and boosted by the signings of Shane Duffy, Glenn Murray and Anthony Knockaert, the Seagulls did sore into the top flight.
Watch Sam and Connor in conversation here