Match Report
Four More. The Momentum Just Keeps Rolling.
· Admin
Brighton 4-0 Kauno Žalgiris | UEFA Conference League, league phase | 15 October 2026 | Amex Stadium
Thursday night, European football at the Amex, twenty minutes down the road and home before eleven. No motorway. No service station sandwich. Just floodlights and a Lithuanian side who'd clearly been told to get everybody behind the ball and pray.
Fabian Hürzeler kept three of the eleven that won at Sunderland. Michael Svoboda got a first start. Costinha, Matt O'Riley and Ibrahim Osman all came in. On paper, a rotation night. In practice, one-way traffic from the first whistle.
Forty-One Minutes Of Knocking On The Door
Tomas Švedkauskas in their goal had already pushed away a Hinshelwood header and a few others before we got through. Forty-one minutes. Osman kept the ball in play by roughly the width of a cigarette paper, cut it back, Georginio Rutter placed it in. The flag went up for the ball being out. Mikkel Redder had a look on the monitor. Goal.
1-0
45+2. Rutter turned provider this time, low across the box, and Jack Hinshelwood slotted into the corner. His first appearance since the opening weekend of the season. Welcome back, son.
2-0
Fifty-three. A lung-bursting run from Malick Yalcouyé, Osman across again, Rutter finishing almost identically to his first.
3-0
The Bit I'll Actually Remember
Sixty-seven minutes. Osman went off injured and on came Younes Ibrahim for his debut. Eighteen, born in Australia, Egyptian and Moroccan heritage, over here since he was ten, up through the under-21s. Touch, second touch, cross. O'Riley had just hit the post and this time headed it back across the keeper and in.
4-0
That's O'Riley's first Brighton goal since August 2025, and an assist on a first-team debut inside about ten seconds. He should have had a second late on, another header, another fine Švedkauskas save.
The Run, Briefly
Five straight wins in all competitions. Twenty-nine goals in ten games this season. Third in the Premier League, top of the Conference League table after one match. Hürzeler called it a disciplined performance and made a point of applauding the crowd with his players. The crowd, for their part, were already singing about Istanbul, which in mid-October is either faith or a medical condition.
Final Thought
You can't sign momentum. You can't rest it either, which is what makes this one satisfying — eight changes, a kid making his debut, a lad back from months out, and the thing just kept rolling anyway. Palace next, and nobody needs me to explain what that one means.
Take care of yourselves. And each other. Especially Younes, who's peaked at one touch and will never top it.