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Middlesbrough - Away
no league matches during the Withdean era.
Season 5 (A) 24/9/03 LC2 - 0-1 aet
Given a free choice, a three hundred mile trip to the northeast wasn't high on anyone's list. Especially when it was a Wednesday night on Teesside for a League Cup tie. In past years Brighton had drawn Ipswich, Southampton and Wimbledon in this competition, only the former actually 'away' but at least all three were southern contests. Over 400 Brighton fans did attend at an impressive Riverside Stadium in Cleveland and even 10,000 locals turned up too. However in a venue with a 35,000 capacity that still left a lot of space to fill. The north-coast club moved there in 1995 when a Boro fan with financial clout plus passion, put his money where his mouth was. At the same time, contrast with Albion couldn't have been greater as our so-called directors were selling the old club down a proverbial river, lock, stock and retail park. Middlesbrough won promotion to the Premiership while Brighton was on those skids. After a blip they'd only spent one season back in div1, as our own fortunes went from bad to worse, settling all but at rock bottom in div3. During 1999 and into the new millennium as Boro consolidated being a mid table unit, Albion survived a two year exile to come home and reinvent themselves. Post-industrial Britain charged official bodies, such as one responsible for Teesside to actively encourage redevelopment. Brighton & Hove City Council was at last throwing its weight behind a scheme for a community stadium at unitary authority outskirts. Within two years of making it viable, the Riverside was erected and ready for occupation. BHA was presently attending a Public Inquiry into our site at Falmer and hey, it would be worth the wait and... wait and...
On the night, Rodger effectively finished his career by busting up a knee. Young Jake Robinson came on as sub and he wasn't going to forget a debut in such a place in a hurry. Incredibly Boro couldn't find the net in 90 minutes and a goal-less game spilled over for an extra half hour. Kuipers was recently comeback from a long spell as Ben Roberts' deputy and played well. He couldn't really do much about stopping this labouring Prem outfit's winner from close in. With Steve Coppell as boss, Albion played football and took that valuable aspect from the match, where for once opposition gave us room to move. But it was a bloody long way to go just to confirm we could be better than basic Nationwide div2 fare.
Kuipers, Hinshelwood, Cullip, Butters, Mayo (Harding), Hart (Robinson), Carpenter, Rodger (Pethick), Jones, McPhee, Knight.
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