By Tim Hodges
Albion play Middlesbrough at home this afternoon (Saturday 31 March) for the first time in almost 20 years.
The Seagulls are currently fifth in the Championship with Boro sixth.
Earlier this week Brighton and Hove News caught up with Sam Vokes and Liam Bridcutt.
Bridcutt admitted that he still felt pressure and a few nerves ahead of big games but thought that it was a massive boost that Albion were sitting in the play-off positions at this stage of the season.
He said: “Everyone wants the promotion.” But the players had to continue to do the right things in this period if it was to be achieved.
His comments were echoed by his team-mate Sam Vokes who is with the club on loan from Wolves.
The striker, who has scored three times for the Albion since joining in January, suggested that the club had some very tough games coming up and that there would need to be some cool heads around the squad.
Vokes said that Boro’s game plan might see them try to “get in people’s faces”.
Unlike his Albion team-mates, the Welsh international has experienced a win against Boro this season while on loan at Burnley. But he thinks that this is a completely different situation when you consider the stage of the season we are at.
He felt that Albion’s home form and the Amex crowd would play a big part in the team’s fortunes, hinting that the Amex atmosphere played a big part in home matches.
Away from football, Vokes revealed to Brighton and Hove News that he is a big golf fan and that he and Craig Mackail-Smith enjoy 18 holes at East Sussex National sometimes after training.
He said that Mackail-Smith outdrove him in a national competition which features on Sky Sports.
Vokes is keen to keep his place in the Welsh national team and is eager to be involved in a friendly in New York in the summer.
