Northampton - Home, Withdean Era
Season 10 (H) 24/2/09 - 1-1 ~ Elphick
OMG what a carry on. Micky Adams departed at short notice and White & Booker were in charge. Talk about turmoil in the Boardroom. Whatever next? But at long last, 2009 gave us progress you could see if not exactly touch, in altering the landscape at Falmer. Winter postponements on the pitch didn't seem to halt work in progress at Village Way. This fixture was rescheduled from New Year due to frost at W'dean. It too had been one hell of a year on since 2008 dawned. Dean Wilkins was forced to rebuild his side from January, following departures of Hammond, Revell and Elder in the transfer window and previously Savage and O'Callaghan by New Year. Thomson, Murray and Dixon then arrived. BHA achieved 7th place but finished way short of a true play-off challenge. Butters, Reid, Martot, Rents and other youngsters left at end of season, then Adams replaced Wilkins. Virgo, Hawkins, Mcleod and Livermore came in, while Richards came back on long term loan. Hart and Mayo got reinstated but Lynch walked off - loaned to Forest. Adams revolution2 went tits up by autumn and Brighton hit the drop zone. Knight stood by his manager at first but after Wilkins, McGhee, Coppell, Hinshelwood, Taylor and Adams first time, he was now looking for stability with Falmer excavations finally happening. Fans had to suffer for the cause, keep the faith and bloody well get on with it. By mid Feb we were stuck in the bottom four and things looked as bleak as in the big freeze.
White & Booker were in charge, while Mr Knight sorted out applications for his seventh name as boss in ten years at Withdean. BHA played 442 but couldn't get an early goal from pressure. It was drifting toward stalemate approaching half time. Then Town broke against run of play (44 min) to follow up on a clearance. The ball went through Kuipers block. W&B quickly subbed Birchall (52m) and Fraser (55m), searching for a spark to ignite misfiring strikers. Soon Carole's corner was put away by Elphick's head (57m). On 66m Virgo and the big, Town centre forward were sent off for violent conduct. Ten versus ten was quite open and Albion assumed command, attempting to win this drop-zone dogfight. Chances came and chances went. It was all a bit frantic and a touch of clinical finishing would have been more productive perhaps. At least it didn't rain, although plenty of water had gone through bridging twelve eventful months.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, El-Abd, McNulty, Birchall (Davies), Fraser (Carole), Jarrett, Cox, Virgo, Forster.
League1 P 31 . W 7 D 11 L 13 . F 35 A 46 . Pt 32 Po 21

Season 9 (H) 18/8/07 - 2-1 ~ Hammond, Revell
First home fixture of this season and cloudy, cool and all but raining at Withdean. Still we'd got good news about Falmer and with Nimby opposition crumbling it felt like summer by the proverbial duck pond. Mr Knight had spent some dosh on Forster to boost p-o hopes and Whing came back to join us but those funny Frenchies had all disappeared. Oatway retired to leave FDM, Hart and Mayo for testimonials. Mr Perry got 5 million out of SEEDA to sort out a safe road scheme at Falmer - so slippery wet dreams do come true then!
Brighton had an early slice of luck when Ref pointed to the spot inside 2 minutes. Hammond did the biz and we all sat back for a treat. So did our team and got the run around. Town levelled when nodding a cross onto a post and it found the net to boot. We were at sixes and sevens for a while. Wilkins who watched the game from opposite dugouts, came up with a cunning plan for second half. We would play like the home side and get possession and then go and do 'em. Ok in theory but we couldn't score from open play for toffee. A free kick helped with 25 min left and Revell nutted us into a lead. From then on we wuz all over 'em but it just wouldn't go in. 5000 Fans got behind a late rally to keep Albion ahead and secure a vital victory by digging in.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Butters, Rents, Robinson (Savage), El-Abd, Hammond (Fraser), Cox, Revell, Forster.
League 1 P 2 . W 1 D 0 L 1 . F 3 A 3 . Pt 3 Po 8

Season 8 (H) 21/10/06 - 1-1 ~ Robinson
Our squad had been hit by a string of injuries and could muster sixteen but not many more. The kids who turned out and those on the bench, seemed to look younger every week in passing. Dwindling crowds had steadied to be around 6000 but size of away groups did affect the gate. Brighton fans had voted with their feet as mid-table mediocrity loomed large. Weather was showery and after a very dry year, there had to be more soft pitches to experience as normal quite soon.
Poor play in a frustrating first half, made us seem like a second rate outfit. Then Robinson put B'ton in front, five mins before coffee. A team talk didn't seem to inspire and Hammond limped off. On loan full back Whing was punched by Cobblers goalie in a high ball incident in their box. He was off the pitch for a while as blood flowed. Albion were literally grinding it out. A piece of quick thinking allowed Northampton an equaliser following a clearance into the nature reserve. They grabbed one of the multi balls available and turned a throw-in into a shot on target. Suddenly we'd lost a ball, a goal and two 'safe' points. Time to wake up and smell more coffee.
Henderson, Whing, Hinshelwood, Butters, Mayo, Fraser, Hammond (Lynch), El-Abd, Cox (Rents), Gatting (Santos), Robinson.
League 1 P 15 . W 5 D 3 L 7 . F 18 A 24 . Pt 18 Po 18

Season 3 (H) 12/3/02 - 2-0 ~ Zamora, Morgan
A Tuesday night, wet and windy at the floodlit sports complex but hey, we'd secured a play-off place at least. Brighton's set piece specialist Watson, from a free kick, provided the means yet again for this division's leading scorer to increase his tally. Zamora headed home to keep up a remarkable season's average of three goals from every four games. Watson was also noted to assist for the second, clipping a cross over for Morgan to convert. In contrast it was his first goal for BHA since signing as a veteran from Fulham before pre-season. Micky Adams had wanted a central defender who could consistently cope with a raise in class. Simon Morgan became Mr Dependable from day one. Remarkably, he had ongoing knee problems that would eventually end this mid thirty something's career a month later. In the meantime he was patched up and turned out, to rack up 45 odd games for Albion that term, in a life span of over 550 appearances and 50 plus goals. Players like that can and do make a difference to turn a useful outfit into a confident table topping one. Their significant but often forgotten contributions to the cause should never knowingly be under estimated. Zamora is rightly a Brighton legend, Morgan was nevertheless a bloody unsung hero.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart, Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Webb, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 39 . W 20 D 13 L 6 . F 54 A 37 . Pt 73 Po 2

Season 1 (H) 27/11/99 - 1-3 ~ Aspinal
The Cobblers strode into weekend Withdean that first winter, leathered it and stole a quick march on us. Albion had been hovering in division 3 mid-table, within striking distance of play-off places. Northampton were pushing for an automatic promotion spot and appeared to be a good test for Brighton's 'new era' aspirations. Homecoming euphoria had long since subsided but compared to previous seasons in the lowest Football League tier, there was still lots to be grateful for. This match was second of three home games in eight days, where an FA Cup round2 replay would complete an already busy, eight match month. A record gate so far, of 5935 highlighted huge problems from restricted capacity and a desperate need for Falmer. Presumably Micky Adams' experienced players were expected to compete at length, whatever circumstances prevailed. But relative to other BHA terms, they proved to be merely a developing squad at this stage. Northampton were arguably the best outfit seen that initial season in suburban Brighton. They gave us a football type lesson to lift standards above kick and rush and scored three gooduns to boot. Many Brighton fans could see if only we played like that in future, we might finally get out of the basement level ourselves.
Walton, Watson, Campbell, Cullip, McPherson, Rogers, Oatway, Mayo (Ramsay), Aspinal, Thomas (Hart), Cameron (Freeman).
Div 3 (League 2) P 19 . W 7 D 6 L 6 . F 27 A 20 . Pt 27 Po 14

Northampton - Away, Withdean Era
Season 12 (A) 10/8/10 LCr1 - 0-2
Time moves on and so does footy. Micky Adams and his 2009 replacement Russell Slade were long gone - to Port Vale and Leyton Orient respectively. We'd got Uruguan ex-intl Gus Poyet in now to see us to the promised land at Falmer. He'd initially averted threat of another drop to L2 and was setting out on a managerial path to the Championship - or so we hoped. Northampton were in L2 these days anyway, so they were only a load of old cobblers, according to day1 defeat at Torquay. Albion supremo Tony Bloom was funding 100mill approx for the American Express Community Stadium, which made us wonder how much was actually on credit. The roof was going on as we speak and all would be ready to go in twelve months time. We could hardly wait, whatever level BHA were at.
Gus rang the changes with seven new faces in but it backfired bigtime inside the first quarter of an hour on a nice nite in midlands. GP went with 433 and wanted goals but we conceded early (13min) when Poke let a soft shot past, Rob Green style. Five minutes later (18m) Whing gave the ball away and Town followed up neatly. It got worse coz Sparrow was sent off for violent conduct (right hook) before h-t (35m). Poyet rejigged second period with 441, bringing on Navarro and Bennett. Then Nav immediately broke down and was stretchered off, to be replaced by Smith. Albion were absolutely hopeless and hardly gave a display of cup tie football against average opponents. It all ended in tears and left many worries for coaching staff and exposed our lack of quality in depth. Signings had to be made - and soon too!
Poke, Whing, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter, Battipiedi, Sparrow, Dicker, Holroyd (Navarro, Smith), Hart, Baz (Bennett).

Season 10 (A) 27/9/08 - 2-2 ~ Murray 2
Nine months after our last meeting and where were we now? See below - McFaul, Martot and Reid went abroad and Wilkins went west. Albion was still a mid table outfit and Micky Adams had a planB - or so he said. He got Thornton in on loan for today. That incredible LC r2 tie versus Man City was still on everyones lips, in the noisy away end on a wonderful sunny afternoon. Falmer had been slightly altered on blueprints and we also had mandatory new away strip for '08/9. However BHA played in b&w stripes with blue shorts for this basic League1 encounter.
The first half was forgettable but Brighton edged it on goals. Anyinsah was brought down and Murray converted the pen just before coffee time. Northampton had previously gone out in LC3 on pens at Sunderland after conceding in 90+ stoppage. They came at us second period and it was a bit backs to the wall. On 77 min Town took advantage of a defensive slip to equalise. This fixture soon turned into a Cup replay type experience for both units. Brighton thought we'd nicked it on 90+ min when Murray bagged a brace from a free flowing counter attack. There were 5 min of stoppage and Northampton got stuck in. It only takes a second to score and right at the death Cobblers levelled. FDM couldn't get to a corner and the ball bounced into an empty goalmouth. Adams altered his side during latter stages and went for a win. Had he left defence under too much pressure as we constantly backed off? Albion required a bit more quality to improve on squads, final positions and results of the last two seasons. Mr Knight took note again.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Hawkins, Richards, Fraser (Thornton), El-Abd, Livermore (Cox), Anyinsah (Forster), Virgo, Murray.
League1 P 8 . W 2 D 4 L 2 . F 8 A 9 . Pt 10 Po 14

Season 10 (A) JPT r1 2/9/08 - 1-0 ~ McLeod
It wasn't exactly a short trip down the road for Albion and fans in this southern section tie. On a wet evening, it was flogging up that crowded M1 into the midlands. Sixfields was restricted to two stands coz only a little over 2000 attended, with about 250 travelling for BHA. Micky Adams shuffled his squad a tad, resting Elphick and bringing in Lynch. Thomson was injured so Livermore and Loft did c-mf. Virgo was at rb and Whing r-mf. It didn't last long however as Virgo got injured inside 15 minutes. Brighton reverted to usual line-up with Whing behind Cox. Oh, previously Lynch had a transfer request turned down. Adams decided to see who could cut it, given half a chance.
Opening skirmishes gradually morphed into a k-o tie of sorts, without being full of goalmouth incidents in a battling first half. Kuipers made the odd stop but generally had a quiet night. Forster was trying to get on the end of things and also assists for others. Apparently Adams didn't throw tea-cups at the break but wanted a result, to be included on the list for Manager of the month. Albion upped it second period and went in search of a goal. Richards sent a f-k goalwards but goalie saved. Hawkins had one headed off the line, while Murray's nod was pushed over by Town's now busy keeper. On 68 min McLeod let fly with a spectacular 30 yarder that caught their custodian cold. He went up and came upsides down as the ball fizzed through him. All BHA had to do then was keep it clean and they saw it out in fine style. Cobblers tried to repair a hole but it looked like the old tin tack for 'em. Albion had put the boot in.
Kuipers, Virgo (Cox), Hawkins, Lynch, Richards, Whing, Livermore, Loft, McLeod, Forster, Murray.

Season 9 (A) 29/1/08 - 0-1
Transfer windows were closing and Albion were signing. Mr Knight had already secured Sean McFaul from Ireland and Steve Thomson from Falkirk. Next he got Glenn Murray out of Rochdale for 300k, which was the biggest buy for decades. Just before k-o we heard Jonny Dixon a non-league Aldershot hot-shot was gonna be next. Hammond hadn't signed like Savage, who was out of contract and Revell went to Southend for 150k. Never a dull moment at BHA and that's before dealing with Mr Knight's wish list for a top ten finish, p-o participation and a Wembley appearance to boot. Falmer would be make or break but at this juncture we wuz going for broke. The trouble was it wasn't getting results B'ton needed to progress as per Dick's noughties plan.
On a cold drizzly evening a fair turnout of about 600 Albion supporters in a sub 5k gate, witnessed a dismal defeat. It wasn't that Northampton were a better team, or made more chances, or represented quasi Championship opposition. It was that we couldn't score at Sixfields. Their goalie played a blinder and they nicked one just before half time. When we 'equalised', Ref disallowed it on checking with Lino. Nothing went right, Reid hobbled off injured and Kuipers got annoyed with others. Subs came on, Albion huffed and puffed but Town ground it out. Brighton appeared in freefall after starting 2008 flattering to deceive.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, El-Abd, Richards, Martot (Robinson), Reid (Fraser), Thomson, Cox, Elder (Murray), Forster.
League 1 P 26 . W 9 D 8 L 9 . F 32 A 30 . Pt 35 Po 14

Season 8 (A) 31/3/07 - 2-0 ~ Savage 2
This result came on the back of four consecutive draws since the three quarters stage. Since a shocking string of reversals in January, Albion had W4 D5 L2 F11 A7. Savage had scored six in that time and just as well because others seemingly couldn't. Brighton had to date been good on the road, this being a ninth win and would probably been in contention for a p-o slot, had a dozen or so points not gone missing at Withdean. Dean Wilkins had diligently tried to improve this very young developing, new generation BHA side by also obtaining Frenchman Bertin and Rehman on loan from QPR. He had been here twice before in '03/4 prior to run-in and p-o dramas. Old Butters became team captain as Hammond was injured. Carpenter had long gone and Oatway recently had a fourth ankle operation since 15 months ago. Reid was just on the mend too but Hinshelwood faced months out. Kuipers, Hart and Frutos couldn't even get a game.
A strong wind blew down the pitch into Brighton fans faces on an otherwise decent day. Albion played a deep defence first half, in front of their numerous support as Town huffed and puffed. From the switch around, we went on the counter as by then Town couldn't hit a barn door. On the hour mark, Savage struck from a set piece lobbed into their box. He dun good six min later by heading in a cross nodded back by Revell. Cue moonwalking or what - B'fans loved it!! We coulda witnessed Robinson breaking a long goal-less spell but his quick reactions to goalie's parry hit the bar and bounced into play. The home outfit tried to make a game of it late on but by then three points were in our safety position. Flinders kept a clean sheet with a triple save of sorts to catch the eye. We'd not beaten much, although beginnings of a reasonable team were emerging. Proverbially, time would tell who'd make it.
Flinders, Rehman, Butters, Lynch, Mayo, Robinson, El-Abd, Bertin, Cox (Fraser), Revell (Gatting), Savage.
League 1 P 40 . W 14 D 10 L 16 . F 45 A 48 . Pt 52 Po 13

Season 3 (A) 31/8/01 - 0-2
Over 1000 Brighton fans or a fantastic 20% of the gate, went to Sixfields on a Friday night. The game had been brought forward because England were to play in Germany the following evening. That World Cup qualifier is now written in International folklore, while Albion's unbeaten start crashed forgetably in the midlands. Cobblers second goal in injury time made it a two - nil score, so the official record got the facts right but didn't represent how this result was finely balanced. Unlike Sven's team, B'ton played in bright home colours but were left a little in the dark, compared to those striking lights in Munich. We always seemed to trudge off to workaday Northampton and get the boot. Our regular passing game became stilted searching out an equaliser. England though opened up the Kraut rearguard like an armoured spearhead, following thirty years of hurt in an oft repeated war. Going abroad this time however proved something of a footy holiday. Meanwhile Adams' blue and white army would be advancing in numbers on all fronts soon.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Jones (Pethick), Rogers (Hart), Carpenter (Pitcher), Oatway, Brooker, Steele, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 5 . W 2 D 2 L 1 . F 6 A 3 . Pt 8 Po 7

Season 1 (A) 19/2/00 - 0-1
Brighton were approaching three quarters completed of a season where the original 'e' word had been replaced by disrespect. The club was about to submit the Falmer planning application but fans voiced various 'alternative site' opinions. Adams was also coming under fire from disgruntled season ticket holders following a bad patch of results - P 8 W 0 D 3 L 5. Could things possibly be falling apart after clinging on to play-off aspirations around New Year? Micky wasn't going to lose bottle, he was a realist and knew Seagulls needed a free flying goal scorer. The match at Sixfields watched by 1300 Albion devotees, was another game where we wouldn't get past their keeper but conceded one yet again. B'ton didn't play poorly, they just couldn't nick a point. One time big Italian hope Pinamonte, had been poached by prolific promises elsewhere. In the latest home game beforehand, a young loan signing made his league debut and netted too. In the next away fixture, he grabbed a hat-trick and Brighton then turned their season around. He returned for 100k pounds in '00/01 and eventually went on to become an Albion B-Z legend.
Walton, Watson, Crosby, McPherson, Mayo, Freeman, Oatway, Aspinal, Brooker, Hart, Zamora (Ramsay)
Div 3 (League 2) P 32 . W 9 D 10 L 13 . F 40 A 38 . Pt 37 Po 18