Charlton - Home, Withdean Era
Season 12 (H) 29/12/10 - 1-1 ~ Murray
This fixture was scheduled to be the first return game of '10/11 in our very last season at Withdean - see away history. Both clubs hoped for promotion to level two and had been right up there among leaders during first half of this L1 campaign. A bitterly cold December of frost and snow wrought havoc with third-div programing and B'ton had 3 out of 4 previously listed games postponed this chilly month. But Gus Poyet found his frustrated side still clear at top of yer table coz other outfits dropped anticipated points when challenging our shortened lead. Athletic came to us as a team in form and we knew they wouldn't roll over like dogs fed up to full Xmas excess. 8300 squeezed into the old sports complex on a foggy midweek nite, to witness cut and thrust on a recently thawed pitch.
Addicks stormed forward from k-o and bagged a penalty early doors. Albion backed off and paid their ticket by giving away a freebie (3min). Worse quickly followed when Calderon's dual-leg lunge was rewarded with gaining both the ball and a red card to boot (8m). Ten-man B&W shirts reshaped 432 with Bennett as wingback. B'ton dug in and produced a series of counter-attacks to make a game of it. From a crowded set piece, Murray expertly flicked El-Abd's prod over goalie to equalise in sensational style (36m). The second period saw plenty of possession from visitors but they couldn't dominate this contest. On other stats, BHA matched Charlton for +/- figures and were ahead on workrate and application. Addicks also missed a couple of sitters at a vocal Worthing end, so Albion held firm - with a bit of luck and extra encouraging home support. At the death, Poyet made a straight double change (85m) to keep things on a knife edge during stoppage time. Murray got MoM but El-Abd was immense and there were 10 heroes out there battling hard for over eighty-five minutes. That sort of spirit would take us far in 2011.
Ankergren, Calderon, Greer, El-Abd, Painter, Bennett, Bridcutt, Dicker (Kishishev), Sparrow, Murray, Wood (Barnes)
League1 P 20 . W 10 D 7 L 3 . F 32 A 16 . Pt 37 Po 1

Season 11 (H) 1/12/09 - 0-2
Brighton were in a right fix. Here we were with Falmer getting bigger by the week and we'd got stuck in lower reaches of L1 yet again. Previous saviour Russ Slade had been dismissed and we'd gotten a real foreign manager in to show us the way to promised lands. Very quickly however, the carnival honeymoon period was truly, madly, deeply over and Gus Poyet needed a result to gain some street cred in Tongdean Lane and surrounding suburbs. Uruguayan GP, with help of Argy Mauricio Taricco, didn't add to Slade's squad but attempted to turn losers into winners S American style. To date they'd beaten So'ton but lost heavily to Leeds and Norwich. We were also into R3 of FAC but displays had been dire against lower opposition. Home form was piss-poor and the Withdean effect took hold as of old. It had rained non-stop during November and Gus complained of lack of training time in a busy schedule. On this cold but dry nite, 6800 turned up but there were less than 6k B'ton fans.
We got done to soft goals on 29min & 37min. As usual Albion went for it from k-o in fine style, with a touch of inter-continental flair. But we couldn't get a breakthru and paid the price. From a f-k, Athletic headed home and were well up for it. They dispatched us with a killer second, when Albion defending was pretty non existent. Gus tried to freshen things up on the hour by swapping a defender and attacker but to no avail. His set-piece man Bennett, had an off nite and we didn't penetrate down the middle either. The other lot knew too much and it was a throwback to Champ's days, when other BHA squads got punished for not being up to it at the appropriate level. It was very frustrating for fans, who probably would prefer to travel anywhere but to Withdean.
Smith, Hoyte, Elphick, Tunnicliffe, El-Abd (McNulty), Crofts, Navarro, Dicker (Davies), Bennett, Murray, Forster (Dickinson).
League1 P 19 . W 4 D 5 L 10 . F 22 A 37 . Pt 17 Po 21

No other previous meetings in the Withdean era.

Charlton - Away, Withdean Era
Season 12 (A) 16/10/10 - 4-0 ~ Calderon, Murray, LuaLua, Sparrow
Albion sold over 3500 tickets for this fixture and perhaps it was because travelling fans liked our club being no.1 and having a top manager (Sept MoM) to boot. Gus Poyet had Brighton playing passing football, which included plenty of possession and all. For once in our previous mean and miserable lives, things were slotting into place and we all hoped to God, it wasn't just another false Seagulls dawn of recent seasons. Falmer was on schedule too and a veritable iconic beacon within the southdowns for everyone to behold. This match marked completion of the first quarter stats and a forecast for final positions could be based on positive numbers to date.
To say Brighton won this game convincingly is not too far from the truth. Of course, Gus wanted a clean sheet and that was vital in order to gain a point at least. In the first half Calderon notched from close range (26min) to score again at the happy Valley. Brighton generally bossed exchanges and around the hour mark went two ahead. Murray siezed on a loose ball to go round the keeper (62m) after Bennett was crunched. LuaLua replaced Barnes with fifteen minutes left and made a big impact as usual. He drove home a Bennett f-k in devastating fashion (81m) as per his trademark rocket shot. In stoppage he provided the ball for Sparrow to seal a great victory, following more dangerous wing walking. Gus was pleased but not as much as Brighton fans, who would be home to drink lots in B&H locals, celebrate victory and enjoy being no1 again.
Ankergren, Calderon, El-Abd, Greer, Painter, Bennett, Dicker, Kishishev, Sparrow, Barnes (LuaLua), Murray.
League1 P 12 . W 7 D 4 L 1 . F 19 A 8 . Pt 25 Po 1

Season 11 (A) 23/2/10 - 2-1 ~ Calderon, Bennett
The SE London side were hoping to get back to second level status at their first attempt but were struggling with making auto-promo positions. Addicks lagged Norwich and Leeds, both of whom Albion played H&A immediately prior to this fixture. Notwithstanding such complex situations, both Charlton & Brighton had rival clubs closely breathing down their necks at either end of yer div3 table. Gus Poyet in his first season as gaffero, had managed to bag a few points away but recorded hopeless stats at home. He knew all about big clubs and wanted to be boss of one too, although hadn't exactly set Albion on that onward and upward path and we could even be in L2 quite soon. That wasn't in Tony Bloom's original plans for playing at Falmer either, where Championship footy was promised to Brighton fans throughout the last decade. Yeah you remember, when Athletic were Prem quality and Seagulls flew up to old div1 from W'dean homecoming but couldn't stay there. Now we were lucky to hang on in L1 and something had to change pdq to alter our Falmer fate for 2011/12.
Albion played like p-o chasers and gave sorry Addicks the run-around for much of this fixture. The pitch was heavy after rain and the evening air cold but plenty turned up to see action. Brighton fans were ecstatic with a win, while Charlton locals went home unhappy with their team's display. Nearing h-t, Seagulls flew following a clearance and Calderon broke. He netted from distance (38 min) on a solo burst with drive. Charlton tried to get back in it second period but B'ton held 'em at bay. Then Bennett got space in m-f (78m) and rifled in a low shot to win this match. Very late in stoppage the home outfit bagged a crazy consolation, to a simple punt and chase over the top. This result got GP out of a hole but more so, he was now creating a half decent side on evidence of super recent form on the road.
Brezovan, Calderon, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter, Bennett, Crofts, Navarro, Dicker, LuaLua (Hart), Forster (Holroyd).
League1 P 32 . W 8 D 10 L 14 . F 38 A 51 . Pt 34 Po 18

No previous meetings in the Withdean era.