Crystal Palace - Away, Withdean Era
Season 7 (A) 18/10/05 - 1-0 ~ McShane
Selhurst Park is one of a few grounds where all away fans are on one side of the pitch. Over 3300 got along there on a wet night in Croydon suburbs, when nearly 20,000 others from outer London made up a crowd. Brighton dazzled in a brilliant white strip under floodlights and certainly looked better than in that flat burgundy number. Atmosphere before k-o was building, as Albion supporters rehearsed vocal skills like a magnificent choir prior to a special evening concert.
From word go, Brighton lit up Crystal Palace by pushing forward, thus taking the game to er, local rivals. Eagles appeared to have been hanging around in the nest, while Seagulls soared and flew past in flocks. Only one thing was missing for all but 80 mins - a goal. From a corner McShane ran up and beat a defender in the air. His header looped over their keeper and despite a lunging rearguard, nestled in the back of their net. Palace hit back but had an equaliser disallowed. Holmesdale end hooligans threw programmes and littered the pitch behind Henderson. Ref halted the match temporarily and 'good old Sussex by the sea', taunted an unruly SE25 mob of disgruntled dodgy geezers. The Met Police were no trouble at all and loved our singing, having smiles on their ugly faces throughout a night to remember, for all the right reasons.
Henderson, Hart, McShane, Butters, Reid, Carole, Carpenter (Frutos), Oatway, Hammond, Knight (El-Abd), Robinson (Kazim-Richards).
Champ's P 14 . W 2 D 7 L 5 . F 10 A 19 . Pt 13 Po 20

Season 4 (A) 26/10/02 - 0-5
As replacement manager Steve Coppell introduced a couple of new faces - in a bid to bolster the squad. Brighton were bottom of the pile and stone cold certainties for relegation already, having lost eleven on a runaway roll. Ex-Palace boss Coppell picked up Dean Blackwell from Wimbledon and Simon Rodger from Eagles, to be dropped straight into the er, pit. He realised a critical situation had to be stabilised to prevent more defeats by the odd goal. Albion had been scoring intermittently during that long losing run, so at least there was hope for what was to come. Nearly 5000 Brighton fans went to Selhurst Park, for a local derby of sorts that actually hadn't been so for any number of years. Met Police were out in force, wearing full riot gear and generally behaving in an o-t-t manner. Special trains were laid on and it all became something of an unusual day out to Croydon.
Going a goal behind on four minutes and then two down half an hour later, from another set piece didn't exactly help fire the away atmosphere in the Arthur Wait stand alongside a touchline. Palace had been all over us and we had to buckle up and knuckle down. A second half nightmare started immediately, with a penalty conceded and Brooker sent off on 53 minutes. Just moments afterwards Ref pointed to the spot again. Then a little over sixty seconds later Palace had a nap hand. Suddenly all the fun had gone. We couldn't really blame the Ref, weather, pitch, act of God or a small town in Croydon. Brighton fans tried to stay vocal but understandably went a bit quiet for once. We had made mundane defensive mistakes and got stuffed for 'em. Albion probably put out their strongest line-up but the governor wasn't as yet up to speed. Coppell said, 'the last half hour was an exercise in keeping the score down. I have asked players to learn from performances and concentrate on the challenge of the next game,' Things looked black - we were eight points adrift of the rest of the table and flat on our backs.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Blackwell, Mayo, Hart, Oatway (Rogers), Carpenter (Rodger), Brooker, Zamora, Barrett (Marney).
Div 1 (Champ's) P 14 . W 1 D 1 L 12 . F 11 A 30 . Pt 4 Po 24

Crystal Palace - Home, Withdean Era
Season 7 (H) 20/11/05 - 2-3 ~ Knight 2
The award winning Football in the Community programme had achieved Charitable Staus from the Commission for England and Wales. Around 14000 people a year throughout Sussex were helped through football, education and health applications. There was a study support centre for each of the main towns, with more proposed. Soccer schools and courses were flourishing, including for those with special needs or social exclusion. Martin Perry said, 'with planning permission granted for Falmer, we plan new ways in which to use the stadium for benefit of the community.'
A gate of 7200 watched an enthralling game for 90 minutes and a 2-2 score-line was perhaps about right. In stoppage time, Palace shot from distance and celebrated like winning a cup final. As teams trooped back to the new west end dressing rooms, Brighton fans must have wondered where it had all come from to finish like that. Basically we opened the scoring half way into the first period from a Knight flick and they quickly equalised. B'ton went ahead not long after the break via a penalty and they soon pulled back level a second time. Near the end, Hart ended up off the pitch after a clash, received a red card while prone and was carried away unconscious on a stretcher. A punch up in the centre circle developed on sound of the final whistle. B'ton fans were busy verbally abusing the Ref more than derby opposition, for a much less than consistent attempt at officiating. It ruined a crisp but sunny Sunday in front of trackside TV cameras, rather than on a screen in yer warm cosy lounge.
Blayney, Hart, El-Abd, Butters, Reid, Carole, Hammond, Oatway, Frutos, Knight, Robinson (Kazim-Richards).
Champ's P 19 . W 2 D 10 L 7 . F 19 A 28 . Pt 16 Po 23

Season 4 (A) 25/3/03 - 0-0
A Public Inquiry into building of a community stadium at Falmer had reached a stage where BHA had put forth their evidence and that had been examined by opponents. Shortly the antis would get a chance to speak and in turn, be questioned as to the validity of their particular arguments. It was a lengthy process over those weeks of the division 1 run-in but was well supported by Brighton fans up in the gallery of Hove Town Hall. Each daily session involved submission of documents which were then explained, questioned and criticised by both applicant and opponents in front of an inspector. In some cases it was definitely like watching paint dry.
Brighton owed Palace a beating and set about it in fine style. Chances were created, came and went and what goes around etc. The ball would not go into their net no matter how hard we tried. And we did, up, down, across, diagonal, perpendicular and every other angle, sine, cos and tan. In the event the match was entertaining but one we really had to win. Their keeper got a shutout by luck, skill and right place, right time. Their woodwork denied us too. Opportunity went begging and loads of possession counted for nought in the end. Palace lost a man to two bookables but it was difficult to make a spare bod effective in a crowded box. Victory was surely there for taking and we looked far from relegation fodder when compared to our previous autumn clash. Skinned finger tips and broken nails saw Palace hold out for a goal-less draw they hardly deserved. Can nil-nil ever be any kind of result in these circumstances? Coppell said, 'looking at Stoke, Sheffield United, Ipswich and Crystal Palace games, we could easily have improved our points return from each of those matches. This is confirmation that our play has been good over a consistent period. I hope we can maintain that level.'
Beasant, Watson, Ingimarsson, Cullip (Pethick), Blackwell, Mayo, Brooker, Carpenter, Rodger, Barrett, Hart.
Div 1 (Champ's) P 40 . W 9 D 10 L 21 . F 40 A 59 . Pt 37 Po 22