Bristol City - Away, Withdean Era
Season 8 (A) 23/1/07 JPT SF - 0-2
Dean Wilkins went with an unchanged side that had finally ended a six match losing run at Chesterfield on the Saturday before. The weather had turned very cold and a small crowd of 6k was made up with fairly subdued low numbers of blue & white followers. It would appear the competition was a bit tin pot but we definitely had a chance to progress, even against lg1 table high flyers who were forever a borderline Champ's outfit.
Albion nearly got to halftime at 0-0, after Kuipers made several saves to keep us in it. Somehow a guy lobbed him on the volley in close and it musta been a lucky or lazy one - for being so soft. B'ton got mugged a second time after a quick counter, when defenders were all over the shop ball watching and not buying. They looked like a top notch unit going into our area. We looked average League 1 in any part of the pitch. There was a prob with quality of distribution that led to a lack of chances created. We'd still be there trying to put a move together but for greater threat of frost bite. As at West Ham in FAC, the first goal led to a need for more effort and if the mind was willing, flesh was weak. We clapped 'em off knowing something substantial was missing.
Kuipers, Hart (O'Cearuill), Lynch, Butters (Frutos), Rents, Fraser (Chamberlain), El-Abd, Hammond, Cox, Robinson, Gatting.

Season 8 (A) 2/9/06 - 0-1
London boy Colin Kazim-Richards, the player bought from Bury with competition money won by a fan, had been on the transfer list and Dick Knight did a deal for him with new Prem side Sheff U. CKR was playing in a mid-week reserve game at Worthing against Palace and did 45 min before packing his bag for good on the south coast. He had previously upset Mark McGhee like Leon Knight and Mark McCammon, as in other well reported incidents. It was these sorts of clashes that determined pro and anti manager fan factions - as overseen themselves by a split board. A hostile demonstration by supporters on the way out at the end, sealed McGhee's fate. He had come full circle from a game versus City, three years back - see home history. Knight sacked him in the following week.
McGhee fielded a 4-3-3 formation in an expected test of true top ten League 1 standards. He had been unable to add to the squad by transfer deadline, so had to go with what we had and mix n' match. A settled side certainly hadn't been established at this stage. City went one up around 20 min, a little too easily and an uphill struggle followed. One aspect of McGhee's approach was to use a flexible unit and changes in play often occured, subs included. We went 4-4-2 late on but to no avail. It was coming down to a common denominator of old route one of last time in League 1 and looked a tad 'Conference'. More changes were in order as disgruntled devoted booed.
Kuipers, Reid, Santos, Lynch (Rents), El-Abd, Hammond, Carpenter, Cox, Frutos (Robinson), Loft (Stokes), Revell.
League 1 P 6 . W 2 D 1 L 3 . F 6 A 9 . Pt 7 Po 15

Season 5 (A) 24/4/04 - 0-0
Many actually remember this goal-less draw as a prelude to what was to come a month later. It was a warm, sunny afternoon in the west and shirt-sleeved order prevailed among a crowd of 17000; 1800 of who were Seagulls' supporters. An acoustic atmosphere developed accordingly as at Plymouth, Rushden, Wycombe and similar venues. Brighton also played in traditional blue and white, as a balloon cascade added to colour at the away end. Most people up from 'good old Sussex by the sea' would have settled for stopping City scoring and thus nicking a point by default. The longer a tense match went on, less were nerves interfering with an anticipated outcome. Our defence was superb, towering, commanding, you call it. Bristol City's mob heard and saw their lot swamped, by waves that were rocking Robins' boat from an uncompromising swell. Surfing, city-by-the-sea supporters never enjoyed a nil-nil so much, following winter's stormy passage with danger of sinking. Albion now had a foot on terra firma and hoped not to fall into treacherous waters by missing a final step onto the Promised Land.
Roberts, Virgo, Cullip, Butters, Harding, Reid, Carpenter, Oatway, Jones (Piercy), Iwelumo (Hart), Knight.
Div2 (League 1) P 44 . W 20 D 11 L 13 . F 61 A 43 . Pt 71 Po 6

Season 3 (A) 3/11/01 - 1-0 ~ Zamora
City seemed to be a perennial div2 outfit, who dreamed of play-offs, flirted with div1 honeymoons but couldn't wed size to status. Albion cruised down to fourth placed Bristol, berthed near the Avon, called at Ashton Gate with 2300 followers and 'dig-dong', opened the door on another three points. It had all of a first division feel, with a buzzing big game appeal and a crowd of 14000, in a half decent stadium outside a sprawling city. Indeed for both clubs this was something to aspire to much more in the near future. But who wanted it more?
Popular ex-Albion midfield maestro Danny Wilson must have wished he had spotted Zamora at Rovers, before taking a bi-polar City job in the year 2000. Bobby was in rich vein of form and this match became another - one-nil Zamora, a statistic that typified his illustrious, increasingly upward career at BHA. You can't teach instinctive talent that's part and parcel of a developing class act - just applaud. Seagulls, effortlessly wheeling in cool western skies, wouldn't have wanted to strive quite as much in order to reach such dizzy, higher outer limits.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart, Oatway, Carpenter, Jones, Steele, Zamora (Pethick).
Div2 (League 1) P 17 . W 10 D 5 L 2 . F 25 A 13 . Pt 35 Po 2

Bristol City - Home, Withdean Era
Season 8 (H) 24/2/07 - 0-2
A day to forget as quickly as possible. It turned into our own miserable afternoon, when all those proud thoughts of mixing it with an always useful City outfit, to replicate Millennium Stadium achievements er, failed - yeah right. We didn't turn up! The Bristol side from a red part of town, weren't exactly all over us but they bagged a freak one on half-time. We had a kid keeper between posts in lieu of Kuipers, although he wasn't beaten again until near the end by a penalty. By then we wuz cooked coz Ref sent Fraser off just before this for violence. A lot of players had off days too. Mid-field were er, dismal and up-front - well. Defence was reasonably sound, although back peddling a fair bit. Tactics were aimed at route one, on a tacky pitch after morning rain. Pretty football left the park with Gully's Girls, after warm up exercises. Agricultural fare springs to mind on a less than winter fallow field.
The current line-up wasn't going to set the rest of the season alight and it appeared we were coming up short in several positions. Considering '07/8 for instance, how long could Butters hold the rearguard together? There were no reserve games to speak of and kids were learning on the job. God, we all hoped not to be in lg1 as long as Bristol City had been - like forever!
Flinders, El-Abd, O'Cearuill, Butters (Elder), Mayo, Cox, Ward (Fraser), Bertin, Hammond, Gatting (Revell), Savage.
League 1 P 35 . W 13 D 6 L 16 . F 41 A 46 . Pt 45 Po 12

Season 5 (H) 15/11/03 - 1-4 ~ Knight (pen)
Brighton's new manager Mark McGhee sat in the home dugout and must have wondered how Coppell had got the side to top div2 before leaving. Albion's recent record was 3 league defeats and a draw from 4, plus an embarrassing exit from the FA Cup at Lincoln. Positive sound bites seemed to still be ending in negative results. Brighton fans were not happy and McGhee said he would sort it, after this particular feeble capitulation.
On another perfect afternoon for football in a wonderful autumn, perfection stopped in favour of pique. Brighton's trademark passing reduced to mere hoof and hope. Bristol received plenty of freebie crosses and scored four from selected soft centres. It was a debacle and south-stand stalwarts perused mid-table mediocrity as a price to pay for ups and downs, ins and outs of the Withdean era. McGhee introduced young Yeates on loan from Spurs reserves and also gave Jake Robinson a subs appearance. Everything assumed a state of flux, where experience could be replaced by energy and enthusiasm. Rot had set in and present performance was barely adequate to attain a play-off place.
Roberts, Hinshelwood, Cullip, Butters, Mayo, Hart (Pethick), Rehman (Piercy), Carpenter, Yeates, Knight, McPhee (Robinson).
Div 2 (League 1) P 18 . W 8 D 4 L 6 . F 27 A 22 . Pt 28 Po 4

Season 3 (H) 1/4/02 - 2-1 ~ Lewis, Steele
Danny Wilson, Albion old boy, brought City to Tongdean Lane on Easter Monday and got a very big clap from Goldstone die-hards, now accommodated at the local nature reserve. It was also All Fools Day. Incidentally, season ticket prices for '02/3, meant a regular soaking in the South Stand would cost over 400quid for the next campaign only if applied for early enough. The collapse of ITV digital had undermined payments to League clubs but what idiot would miss a bargain with promotion pending?
City intended to make us wait for 'over the moon' thoughts as long as possible. After all they had a vested interest in grabbing a play-off place themselves. Lewis put Albion ahead from Watson's free kick just before half time. The usual combination punch was Watson - Zamora but Bobby had been injured in a home draw versus County. Bristol took the play to Brighton in the second half and it was only the brilliance of Kuipers that prevented them from going ahead once on level terms. Substitute Steele stole a sensational score with a winner in stoppage time. He was going forward as Robin's defenders came out, beat offside and put a diving header between the posts. Withdean was ecstatic.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart, Carpenter, Lewis, Jones, Brooker (Steele), Gray (Hadland)
Div 2 (League 1) P 43 . W 23 D 14 L 6 . F 64 A 42 . Pt 83 Po 1