Brighton won convincingly against West Ham at The Amex, putting some welcome distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a 3-1 win.
Glenn Murray opened the scoring eight minutes in when Pascal Gross played him in and he calmly curled his effort into the bottom right corner. Javier Hernandez equalised with half and hour gone when he picked up the ball outside the area and danced past three players before putting his effort into the top right corner, but it proved to be in vain.
Jose Izquierdo gave Albion the lead in the 59th minute after Gross's corner fell to the Colombian outside the area before he curled the ball into the top right corner. Then with 15 minutes left Davy Propper played in Gross who put his effort into the bottom left corner.
West Ham poor throughout
Brighton should have had a lead at half-time. After opening the scoring, The Seagulls had chances through Murray and Anthony Knockaert which on another day would have seen them two or three ahead.
Instead Hernandez equalised and got West Ham back in the game and the teams went in level, leaving home fans wondering if they'd rue their missed chances.
Albion scored two great second half goals to win the game. Izquierdo scored another goal of the season candidate just 15 minutes into the second half when he picked up a cleared corner on the left edge of the box and curled an effort which dipped into the top right corner.
Gross then tipped off a great half in the 75th minute when he was picked out by Propper and he span on the ball and hit a shot past Adrian and into the bottom left corner, capping off a richly deserved win.
Ulloa graces The Amex turf
In the 72nd minute, The Amex faithful were on their feet for two reasons. One to clap off goalscorer Murray for his contribution and secondly to welcome back Leonardo Ulloa for his second spell at the club. He certainly made an impact and looked solid as he brought down so many goal kicks and used some great flicks. He also made an intelligent run to create the space for Gross to score Albion's third of the afternoon.
Murray once again did a great job spearheading Brighton's front line. He took his tally up to ten for the season when he calmly tucked round Adrian just eight minutes in. He also did a great job of holding up the ball and causing the West Ham defences problems even 70 minutes into the game.