Bobby Zamora has overtaken Peter Ward in the Albion goal chart.
He also deserves to be recognised as the club's greatest ever striker.
For romantics, Ward will always be their number one.
His goals in the halcyon days of the late 1970's and early 1980's spearheaded the Seagulls' rise under Alan Mullery from the third to the top tier of English football.
Ward was a crowd-pleasing, whippet of a striker.
His ability to turn past defenders at speed and hit the target with deadly regularity was lapped up by fans.
He was revered and rightly so. Club historian Tim Carder and Roger Harris, in their appraisal of Ward in an A to Z of Albion players and managers published in 1997, encapsulated the feelings of many.
'The quicksliver striker was the star of the show as Albion surged from the Third Division to the First, and his presence on the Goldstone turf brought thousands of fans flocking through the turnstiles.
'Quite simply, Peter Ward was magic, and probably gave more pleasure to more people in Sussex than anyone else in history!"
It is hard to top that in terms of emotional attachment but Zamora has the edge as an all-round player, goalscorer and career longevity.
He starts with a disadvantage of ambience compared to Ward, since the bulk of his two spells at Albion have been spent at Withdean, a converted, temporary home lacking the capacity, history, atmosphere and nostalgic elements of the Goldstone.
Adored as he is by the fanbase, it is consequently more difficult to warm to his exploits to quite the same depth as supporters do when thinking or speaking about Ward.
And yet the facts speak for themselves. Zamora's early matchwinner at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday lifted his League tally for Albion to 82 goals in 146 matches.
That is one more than Ward in 48 appearances fewer, which is the equivalent of a season.
The overall tally of goals to games is also stacked heavily in Zamora's favour (89 in 156 against Ward's 95 in 227).
It is possible Zamora will also eclipse Ward's total goals for the club in all competitions by the end of the season in a much shorter time-frame.
Fifty-two of Ward's 81 goals were scored at League One level, ten in the Championship (when Albion were promoted in 1978-79), the other 19 in the top flight in 68 outings over three different seasons in two spells, following his return on loan from Nottingham Forest.
Thirty-four of Zamora's Albion goals were in the fourth tier, a lower standard Ward never played in for the blue and white stripes.
That advantage for Zamora against inferior defences is counter-balanced. Another 28 of his goals came in League One. His Championship tally is 20 and counting, six in the current campaign adding to the 14 he scored in a struggling side in 2002-03, when Albion were relegated and he missed six weeks of the season through injury.
After that Zamora scored 47 goals in 252 Premier League appearances for Spurs, West Ham, Fulham and QPR, the more modest average reflecting not just the level but also the adaptation with advancing years from pure goalscorer to link-up target man.
Both had brief England careers, in Ward's case a memorable hat-trick at the Goldstone in one of two appearances for the under-21s and five minutes for the seniors as an 85th minute substitute against Australia.
Zamora played six times for the under-21s and had one sub appearance and one start for the seniors under Fabio Capello.
All things considered, there is not a lot to choose between a pair of two very different types of prolific strikers but Zamora has also performed at a high level over a much longer period.
Ward had eight years in English football, ending with seven goals in 33 games spread over three years with Forest, before quitting to play in America at the age of 28.
The goal at Blackburn that upstaged his Albion tally was slotted by Zamora on his 35th birthday. He is still going strong in his 17th year in the domestic game.
Ward or Zamora Albion's greatest ever striker? It is a debating point which will provoke strong opinions on both sides. One thing every Albion fan would agree on, they would have made an awesome partnership.
Original article
He also deserves to be recognised as the club's greatest ever striker.
For romantics, Ward will always be their number one.
His goals in the halcyon days of the late 1970's and early 1980's spearheaded the Seagulls' rise under Alan Mullery from the third to the top tier of English football.
Ward was a crowd-pleasing, whippet of a striker.
His ability to turn past defenders at speed and hit the target with deadly regularity was lapped up by fans.
He was revered and rightly so. Club historian Tim Carder and Roger Harris, in their appraisal of Ward in an A to Z of Albion players and managers published in 1997, encapsulated the feelings of many.
'The quicksliver striker was the star of the show as Albion surged from the Third Division to the First, and his presence on the Goldstone turf brought thousands of fans flocking through the turnstiles.
'Quite simply, Peter Ward was magic, and probably gave more pleasure to more people in Sussex than anyone else in history!"
It is hard to top that in terms of emotional attachment but Zamora has the edge as an all-round player, goalscorer and career longevity.
He starts with a disadvantage of ambience compared to Ward, since the bulk of his two spells at Albion have been spent at Withdean, a converted, temporary home lacking the capacity, history, atmosphere and nostalgic elements of the Goldstone.
Adored as he is by the fanbase, it is consequently more difficult to warm to his exploits to quite the same depth as supporters do when thinking or speaking about Ward.
And yet the facts speak for themselves. Zamora's early matchwinner at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday lifted his League tally for Albion to 82 goals in 146 matches.
That is one more than Ward in 48 appearances fewer, which is the equivalent of a season.
The overall tally of goals to games is also stacked heavily in Zamora's favour (89 in 156 against Ward's 95 in 227).
It is possible Zamora will also eclipse Ward's total goals for the club in all competitions by the end of the season in a much shorter time-frame.
Fifty-two of Ward's 81 goals were scored at League One level, ten in the Championship (when Albion were promoted in 1978-79), the other 19 in the top flight in 68 outings over three different seasons in two spells, following his return on loan from Nottingham Forest.
Thirty-four of Zamora's Albion goals were in the fourth tier, a lower standard Ward never played in for the blue and white stripes.
That advantage for Zamora against inferior defences is counter-balanced. Another 28 of his goals came in League One. His Championship tally is 20 and counting, six in the current campaign adding to the 14 he scored in a struggling side in 2002-03, when Albion were relegated and he missed six weeks of the season through injury.
After that Zamora scored 47 goals in 252 Premier League appearances for Spurs, West Ham, Fulham and QPR, the more modest average reflecting not just the level but also the adaptation with advancing years from pure goalscorer to link-up target man.
Both had brief England careers, in Ward's case a memorable hat-trick at the Goldstone in one of two appearances for the under-21s and five minutes for the seniors as an 85th minute substitute against Australia.
Zamora played six times for the under-21s and had one sub appearance and one start for the seniors under Fabio Capello.
All things considered, there is not a lot to choose between a pair of two very different types of prolific strikers but Zamora has also performed at a high level over a much longer period.
Ward had eight years in English football, ending with seven goals in 33 games spread over three years with Forest, before quitting to play in America at the age of 28.
The goal at Blackburn that upstaged his Albion tally was slotted by Zamora on his 35th birthday. He is still going strong in his 17th year in the domestic game.
Ward or Zamora Albion's greatest ever striker? It is a debating point which will provoke strong opinions on both sides. One thing every Albion fan would agree on, they would have made an awesome partnership.
Original article