Brighton 3 Newcastle Utd 1 … and Sussex CCC

Brighton got back on track after the surprise 3-1 home defeat by West Ham and look to have the next £100m star in young Irishman Evan Ferguson who scored a hat trick.

Ferguson is a burly striker in the style of Erling Haaland with a nice touch and eye for goal.

He was acquired from Eire’s Bohemians – and was “broken in slowly” as is the Brighton way – but once given his chance last season scored 10 goals in 24 outings of which only 12 have been starts.

The Seagulls were light up front.

Danny Welbeck did a good job but was not a prolific scorer and could not play a full season – other acquisitions did not succeed – but, aside from Ferguson, we bought Joao Pedro from Watford.

The Seagulls have scored in every game but we are resigned to Ferguson being the next ‘ big thing’ and transfer target. Rest assured Tony Bloom will drive his customary hard bargain!

The other piece of exciting news on the south coast is the Europa League draw in which Brighton feature in a group with Ajax, Marseilles and AEK Athens.

I wonder how many of those loyal fans who trekked up to Gillingham to watch their team not so long ago thought that they would be entertaining Ajax in a wonderful stadium and currently occupy sixth place in the top tier?

Sadly it’s not the same success story at Sussex CCC, where the Sharks did not have any success in white ball and our best hope for this young side is promotion from Division 2 of the LV Championship.

After the first day at league leaders Durham they were bowled out for 266 after an opening stand of 110 by Tom Haines and Tom Clark.

They have hired an experienced coach in Paul Farbrace, as they did in Jason Gillespie, but success has eluded both.