Southend United 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 2

Last updated : 22 August 2008 By Footymad Previewer
Brighton went top of League One start thanks to Glenn Murray and Nicky Forster's goals against ten-men Southend United.

The Shrimpers went into the match without a league defeat and had the upper hand until Franck Moussa was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Adam Virgo.

The Seagulls netted after Dave Livermore's free-kick from the left found Murray in the centre of the box and he rifled the ball past a diving Steve Mildenhall.

Southend came close to levelling twice, but Tommy Elphick cleared off the line from Lee Barnard and keeper Michels Kuipers turned a fierce Dan Harding drive wide.

But Brighton skipper Forster put the result beyond doubt when he latched on to Steve Thomson's pass and shot underneath Mildenhall.

In the first half Barnard hit the post from 18 yards with Kuipers beaten, before the striker's speculative 25-yard effort was caught by the Albion keeper.

Brighton had their moments going forward but failed to trouble Mildenhall in the Shrimpers goal until the 29th minute, when lenn Murray sent an 18-yard effort straight at the Blues stopper.

Virgo gave Mildenhall a sterner test in the 36th minute, but the former Yeovil custodian turned the midfielder's low shot round his right post.

Brighton made a brighter start to the second half, but had to rely on Kuipers to smother the ball as Revell bore down on Colin Hawkins' poor backpass.

The keeper then spilt a Peter Clarke header but recovered to smother the ball as Revell lurked.

But Kuipers' hard work was nearly undone in the 61st minute when his upfield ball was charged down by Revell, who lobbed over the keeper and saw the ball trickle just wide.

Then Moussa was sent off and the game swung dramatically in Brighton's favour as they maintained their unbeaten start to the season.