Peterborough - Away, Withdean Era
Season 12 (A) 30/10/10 - 3-0 ~ Barnes 2, Calderon
For some reason we couldn't compute, Albion often played Posh at this time of year. Hopefully Gus Poyet shoulda got at least a point there like Adams, McGhee, Taylor and er, Adams again in various years during that notorious Withdean era. Our S American gaffero was turning into a Football God and in a little short of a year, had made Albion potential Championship candidates. Over 2500 travelling support went to Cambridgeshire on a nice autumn afternoon and there was a 10k crowd to witness this hyped top of the table clash. United bigged it up as a Cup Final and got balloons and bunting out to boot.
From word go, Albion moved the ball about on the deck and didn't seem in a hurry to expend energy. On 16 min, Bennett's f-k out wide was nodded in by Barnes at the near post. Before half hour gone, Posh had a bloke sent off for retaliation (25m). Bennett then won a pen but his attempt was saved by goalie who played a blinder for 90min. Shortly afterwards Calderon poked home from a corner (33m) to put us on a roll. Just over the hour mark, B'ton were given a second pen in front of away support and Barnes smashed it in (62m). Everone went potty and celebrated a super performance. Both Argentinians came on in last 15min and each hit the bar. There were 12 on targets but only one to United, such was our grip on this mis-match. BHA went well clear at top of tier three and to date, looked an impressive outfit at this level. We even liked away red & black colours like those stripes of Championes yesteryears.
Ankergren, Calderon, Greer, El-Abd, Painter, Bennett, Dicker, Kishishev (Battipiedi), Bridcutt, Barnes, Murray (Baz).
League1 P 14 . W 9 D 4 L 1 . F 24 A 8 . Pt 31 Po 1

Season 10 (A) 21/10/08 - 0-0
It was the first League1 midweek evening fixture and about 500 Brighton fans got to that Moys terrace on a clear but chilly floodlit occasion. BHA were struggling to win games, in fact both victories had been away back in August. Withdean was proving a disaster ground and supposedly, Adams revolution2 had gone into tail spin. He'd had injury probs with first eleven choices but on loan bolstering of a weak squad so far failed to fix. We hadn't won in eight and five were draws. Leeds exposed Albion's average ability last time out on the road up north. Well, everywhere was north to us!
You couldn't say this stalemate was boring because at times, each outfit tried to hit the other on the break. Albion survived early and late pressure and put together a few moves in between. Keepers weren't tested too much and a lot of play took part box to box. Both sides attempted to use width and cross field passing became the normal way of forward motion. There seemed to be a lot of running around and rushing about in midfield. Adams went with 433 going forward and 451 when retreating. Posh were a lively unit and if crosses didn't do the trick, tried to sneak thru the middle. Brighton's back line done good and Adams settled for a point when replacing McLeod well before the end. Ref was also sustituted and this made for a frantic five minutes stoppage with Albion getting battered. Adams was relieved but not of duties because Mr Knight had backed him in the press and was tiring of firing or hiring managers in autumn. What he wanted was winners - didn't we all!
Kuipers, Virgo, Elphick, Hawkins, Richards, Anyinsah, El-Abd, Savage (Thornton), Thomson, McLeod (Livermore), Murray.
League1 P 12 . W 2 D 7 L 3 . F 13 A 16 . Pt 13 Po 17

Season 5 (A) 1/11/03 - 2-2 ~ Knight 2
A new manager took charge and Mark McGhee said, 'I asked the Chairman what his expectations were for the season. He thinks we have a competitive team but need strengthening and we do need improving. I think we are going to need two or three players, maybe more to strengthen in depth. That extra bit of quality is to give us cover if we're seriously going to challenge for the top positions.'
Over 1700 Brighton fans got into London Road, either seated in the main stand or standing behind the west goal. They were in good voice after boring motorway seemed more attractive with sunlit views of autumn colour in dramatic shades, like a collection of Albion away strips. Turned out this week in all yellow didn't dazzle opposition, who went ahead on 15 minutes. Brighton had previously lost 3 in a row and needed to halt their own fall in a season of potential decay. Knight got in close to convert a Jones cross 10 minutes later. Unfortunately we let things drop off again by conceding another by half an hour on Ref's watch. Play was open and chances arose at both ends. Albion worked hard to get back in it after a first tea and sympathy chat from our dour Scots gaffer.
The second half was something like a return to fluid football, finding feet and scoring opportunities. On 68 minutes Mayo took a long throw in front of noisy BHA faithful. Butters nodded n and Hart down for Knight to steal in and poach an equaliser. A late tactical move to 433 suggested the new boss wanted all 3 points, in an attacking strategy for the future. The final result was in balance until final whistle as Brighton pushed on towards 'keep the faith' fans. Credit to the team for recovering from a couple of early shocks and dealing with Barry Fry's outfit. 'You fat b....'
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Butters, Mayo, Hart, Pethick, Carpenter, Jones (Wilkinson), Knight, McPhee.
Div 2 (League 1) P 17 . W 8 D 4 L 5 . F 26 A 18 . Pt 28 Po 4

Season 3 (A) 6/4/02 - 1-0 ~ Zamora
What a season it was turning out to be and Brighton fans loved it when a plan came together. London Road was a half decent venue and Barry Fry had plenty of space to house visitors behind a goal on Moys Terrace. Over 3300 BHA promotion chasers got deep into the Fens, to make a loud noise in sleepy eastern flat lands. The natives may not have been restless but Brighton fans were, a win at Peterborough could virtually clinch a spot in div1 next season. There was sunshine over the pitch, as a red and black balloon blizzard let locals know what we were about. Peter Taylor looked happy but perhaps that was a trick of the light.
Zamora, back quickly from a shoulder injury missed a penalty to slightly hold things up. Posh began to get more and more into the game but our whole side was battling to keep a seven match unbeaten run going. Gary Hart broke a leg after jumping for a high ball. Pethick came on and business as usual. Peter Taylor wasn't quite so happy. He said, 'we should have taken control and scored three or four in the first half. But despite the missed chances the character shone through once again.' Zamora put Seagulls into full flight with a 28th strike. That was almost an average of three goals in every four games - a truly sensational achievement. He had a spell of scoring once in each of eight consecutive fixtures during the season and only a three-match sequence without rippling that net. Albion had notched 65 from 44 or approx 1.5 goals per game. Zamora was penalty taker but not a first choice free kick specialist. He stroked in six from the spot and converted several of six headers and yes, six volleys via Watson's skills at set pieces. Peter Taylor was as ecstatic on Sunday night as supporters, when other results meant Albion had done the maths and we'd gone thru div2 all ends up. No b-s, only BZ.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart (Pethick), Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Steele (Jones), Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 44 . W 24 D 14 L 6 . F 65 A 42 . Pt 86 Po 1

Season 1 (A) 2/10/99 - 0-0
A policy of developing local talent via a youth team had been ongoing since before Micky Adams arrived in April and the youngsters' coach already in situ was Dean Wilkins. He thought a lot about all aspects of football from basics, tactics, fitness, diet and even mental disciplines and psychology. Wilkins was a hard but fair taskmaster, who put body and soul into what was more than just a job, with the club he represented on over 300 occasions. In some ways he was a perfectionist and said of one particular win, 'in the second half there was a break in play and I had a chat with the boys. I told them they weren't performing but not to worry about it, get the ball forward quickly and kill off the game. To be fair they did that very well. Now they must learn to be able to do things like that without being told.' Kids who listened enough to make a jump to pro ranks from this initial group were McPhee, Marney, Wilkinson, Hinshelwood, Virgo, Ramsay and Hammond. Perhaps there was to be found another Gareth Barry on Brighton's books in future.
A visit to Peterborough after those last three mega trips to Darlington, Plymouth and Halifax respectively, swelled the gate at London Road. Posh got around a 6000 average, so 1700 Albion faithful were welcome additions to Mr Fry's accountant to er, count 7800 inside on the day. Their eastern commuter town outfit had finished ninth in '98/99 and had started well this term. Presently in a play-off spot, they were one hundred percent winners at home. Walton had come back between the posts, having gone on the transfer list after enduring a couple of high scoring games recently. He duly kept a clean sheet behind a pretty solid defence. Oatway returned after suspension to bolster midfield with new man Aspinal. He had been around the block to say the least but Adams was going for an old head on er, an old body. It was a method he adopted to suit other circumstances, when covering angles and plugging gaps. Brighton had a squad of sorts but Adams was more or less going with a regular experienced eleven, while fringe players were stuck in reserves or even the youth team.
Walton, Watson, Cullip, McPherson, Campbell, Wilder, Rogers, Oatway, Aspinal (Thomas), Freeman (Newhouse), Hart (Cameron).
Div 3 (League 2) P 10 . W 4 D 3 L 3 . F 19 A 11 . Pt 15 P 8

Season 1 (A) 30/10/99 FAC 1 - 1-1 ~ Freeman
Only four weeks after visiting Peterborough for a regular div3 match, Brighton returned to play a FA Cup round 1 tie. In 1998 we had similarly been drawn away at Leyton Orient but that was two months after our away league fixture there. Brian Horton's side crashed out of r1 by 4-2, although Albion were actually enjoying a sequence of away wins that had got to four during October and November. The side that Micky Adams put out was totally different to a year beforehand. Mayo, who had scored at Orient, was on the bench as per twelve months previously. Hart was the only player to make this starting line-up for a second time. Adams had certainly been like a new broom sweeping clean and merely Johnson, plus goalies Ormerod and Walton made a cup sixteen in successive years, although keepers exchanged places on the day. Of others who turned out at Brisbane Road only Arnott and Armstrong were still around and Culverhouse was now reserve team coach.
A great turnout at London Road of over 1700 travelling fans bolstered a gate just 600 short of that earlier league contest at well above 7000. Brighton fans seemed to like going there and with a big new stand along one side, capacity was 15000 odd. Also you could make plenty of noise on Moys terrace and disturb Nimbys in Glebe Road. A balloon blizzard helped create a knockout atmosphere that increased as this tie developed into a typical cut and thrust affair. Adams said, 'it was the best ninety minutes since we came to the club.' Posh led from inside half an hour from a Prem style strike that a top keeper would have been hard put to save. Freeman equalised when converting Hart's centre soon afterwards. The second half might have gone either way as everything hung in balance. Also Mayo could have got a goal again but his header was cleared off the line in the last minute. So a replay was necessary but not one particularly favouring one side on evidence of this day.
Walton, Watson, Cullip, Carr, McPherson, Campbell, Freeman (Newhouse), Rogers, Oatway (Mayo), Aspinall, Hart.

Peterborough - Home, Withdean Era
Season 12 (H) 15/1/11 - 3-1 ~ Wood 2, Bennett
We'd almost reached half way thru this last campaign at W'dean, before moving to a brand new stad at Falmer next term. BHA were in early stages of giving presentations at the Amex to long-serving season ticket holders and they could pick their pristine seat to boot. Due to a very cold December, several matches had already been postponed and a couple of L1 fixtures re-scheduled coz of FA Cup participation. Beforehand it rained all week in Sussex but the pitch held up ok and still had plenty of grass covering, if a little soft. Over 7200 attended on a mild afternoon with strong breeze from east to west.
Brighton took the lead against p-o placed Posh, after a pedestrian start. Visitors were up for it but fell behind when Wood slotted Bennett's low ball across from the by line (25min). Two moments later we'd doubled the lead and made Posh look cheap, when Bennett went solo and found the bottom corner (27m). Most home fans were pretty happy with events and it got better on the re-start when Wood bagged a brace from Murray's neat centre to draw the keeper (55m). Then Seagulls kinda took it easy in their cozy old nest but United certainly didn't want to be left with egg on their faces. Albion couldn't get hold of the second ball and started to defend deep. Sloppy control spoiled a clean sheet as United scored a soft one from both free cross and header (66m). Poyet had subbed useful winger Noone around an hour gone and allowed visitors space down left flank. He brough Kish on with 15min left, to bolster m-f and get possession back. Brighton were in danger of conceding another goal and the crowd became slightly nervous, even with a two goal lead. Posh lost a player in stoppage to two bookables but musta felt hard done by to get absolutely nowt from this fifty-fifty contest at the death. They hit woodwork more than once. Talk about lucky league leaders - long may it be so!
Ankergren, Calderon, Greer, El-Abd, Painter, Bennett, Bridcutt, Sparrow (Kishishev), Noone (Dicker), Wood, Murray (Barnes).
League1 P 23 . W 13 D 7 L 3 . F 42 A 18 . Pt 46 Po 1

Season 10 (H) 10/2/09 - 2-4 ~ Davies, McNulty
Good news now came through in a somewhat winter of discontent, the Council approved BHA's amended stadium application - as ground work continued at muddy Falmer. Originally scheduled as 3rd Feb, on 2nd Feb it snowed hard and this fixture was called off. The '09 transfer window had just shut and Albion signed Jim McNulty from Stockport (150k) and Craig Davies from Oldham. Micky Adams was active in the market during January, bringing in Seb Carole, Jason Jarrett, Chris Birchall and Calvin Andrew on loan from Palace. These made a difference to his eleven fielded against Hartlepool on 31st Jan because we'd won at home for once - since last time 3 months ago! All '08 original on-loans returned to parent clubs or went elsewhere. Something needed to be done coz Brighton dropped above the relegation zone and fans wanted it sorted. Adams summer signings had misfired, so he got new men to try and play a settled side. Revolution2 was reborn and we all hoped for a new era of success.
Brighton opened the scoring when Davies (26m) tapped in Carole's spilled shot. Peterborough hit back (38m) from a free header as Albion didn't defend. They took the lead (42m) after Sullivan parried a shot back into play. In h-t stoppage McNulty volleyed home from a corner, to restore parity at the break. United won the second half and the match with superb attacking play on the counter. Virgo was being turned inside out and gave away a penalty (64m) for a trip. Sullivan went the wrong way and we went behind again. Sullivan got a hand to another dangerous threat (76m) but the ball was netted by a Posh poacher. Only 5000 turned up on a very cold nite and only die-hard optimists could think Adams had got his problems sorted after yet another W'dean defeat. We were in serious shit and 8 wins from safety. OMG - there were 18 games left. That was 1.33 points per game or WDL per 3 match sequence until May. Could we make 52 points?
Sullivan, Virgo, Elphick (Fraser), Hinshelwood, McNulty, Jarrett, El-Abd, Forster, Andrew (McLeod), Davies, Carole (Cox).
League1 P 28 . W 6 D 10 L 12 . F 33 A 43 . Pt 28 Po 20

Season 5 (H) 17/4/04 - 1-0 Knight
The football club had opened and successfully run a Study Support Centre at Withdean. This facility had been recognised as a valuable community resource and the Learning and Skills Council had agreed a grant to help expansion further a-field. Together with funding from the European Social Fund, over 1.7 million pounds would be available to set up other Sussex centres. These would be at five non-league football clubs namely Worthing, Crawley, Eastbourne Boro, Hastings Utd and Bognor. With backing from BHA this community scheme was now one of the biggest in the country. It was set to make significant progress in improving skills and learning opportunities for local people in five more major areas of our county by the sea.
Mr McGhee was sending out a settled side bar tinkering at the edges. He gave Reid a first start after two goals in a game with the useful reserve side at Combination level. Kuipers, Hammond, Mayo, Lee, McPhee, Hinshelwood, Piercy, El-Abd and Robinson were regulars in Albion seconds, who had also reached the Sussex Senior Cup final. Roberts was giving some decent displays between the sticks and keeping FDM's hands out of gloves. He made a good save in this match to maintain his run in the p-o chasing side. Knight converted a penalty on 11 minutes. Then it began to go pear shaped. Albion couldn't slice Posh open and enjoy the spoils as expected. A variation of 442 put Piercy just behind the strikers but we didn't seem to create more chances than usual. Balls tended to go out wide as the backs pushed forward. Knight was drifting across the park to claim, when he has been at his best feeding off knockdowns from Iwelumo. He had been deadly in the box and had got 25 goals to show for it. McGhee's stats were about 1.6 points per game, which should have been good enough for play-offs. Three weeks to find out.
Roberts, Virgo, Cullip, Butters, Harding, Reid (Hart), Carpenter, Oatway, Piercy (Jones), Knight, Iwelumo.
Div 2 (League 1) P 43 . W 20 D 10 L 13 . F 61 A 43 . Pt 70 Po 5

Season 3 (H) 21/11/01 - 1-1 ~ Zamora
Brighton had replaced Brentford, their only Fortress Withdean conquerors to date at the head of div2. We were on a super unbeaten run of six, since Micky Adams last game and defeat at home against Steve Coppell's stinging Bees. Peter Taylor had joined Seagulls, who seamlessly were flying high as before. The sky really did appear to be the only limit. In a year to remember for many reasons, among others a centenary, a championship, a stadium planning application and two quality managers, BHA were on the up again. Wimbledon had been humbled at Withdean in the League Cup. Southampton then arrived and had easily despatched us in round 2, on the very night of tragedy from 9/11. The former was quite forgettable but the latter, remembered for all time by Brighton fans around the world. We had advanced to go to an LDV trophy QF with Cambridge and had just got past Shrewsbury in FA Cup round 1. All but one cup-tie had been at home, where we were yet to draw a match of any description.
United played in lime green shirts with black trim, which were vivid under floodlight on this Wednesday evening affair. They lined up for a game of 'break through if you can', a bit like an Amazon rain forest but without precipitation. There was talk of the Tongdean Lane bowl being too dry at present - not a water-table puddle in sight. Posh had a keeper who was all right on the night. Brighton more or less dropped two points due to his reflexes but gave away a soft goal in a defensive lapse involving our custodian. What was of mounting significance was Zamora rippling the net for a sixth contest running in league and cup competitions combined. Everyone was willing him to break another record. Taylor said, 'it was a frustrating draw because we gave them their goal.' Danny Cullip joined Andy Crosby on the transfer list and had made 100 appearances to date. We assumed Dick Knight would try hard to keep him contracted in Sussex.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Pethick, Hart, Carpenter, Oatway (Melton), Jones (Brooker), Steele (Lehmann), Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 19 . W 11 D 6 L 2 . F 27 A 14 .Pt 38 Po 1

Season 1 26/4/00 - 0-0
Dean Wilkins was making a name for himself in a second year as youth team coach. His side topped the Merit Division for southern clubs after a string of useful results in the S-E Conference section. To trump that they'd progressed into round 4 of the FA Youth Cup before a one-nil defeat up at Everton. Of eight games against other top area sides Albion kids won seven and drew one, for 16 scored and only one against. Wilkins said, 'I'm disappointed with it (to have conceded) to be honest. After winning the league the previous week, it's probably the worst we've defended all season. Will Packham was called on more often than before and did very well.' Adams said, 'the youth policy is everything to the club. Better players are now being forced down the league. In order to compete we have to produce our own players. We are placing a great emphasis on that. We've seen four from the youth team break through this season.' A selection process to register kids as young pro's was tough and of course only a few of many actually made it, of those there was again a certain 'wastage' until they were first team regulars.
It was a Wednesday night in lieu of Easter Monday, which wasn't perhaps anything to do with phases of the moon. You couldn't see wonders of our nature reserve for darkness but hey, we weren't going into a black hole of despond like last year. Following a visit by Posh to Priestfield for our home fixture of Jan '99, Albion went 11 games without a win and didn't halt a serious slide until Easter. Micky Adams had been a year in the BHA job and hoped to emulate Mr Fry's ex-div2 outfit with a quick return to third tier football. United got themselves in with a chance for auto promo and a p-o spot for sure. Brighton had an outside punt of reaching a k-o phase but Peterboro's brief was not to concede. They managed a bloke sent off but held firm, plus a bit of luck when Rogers' header off a post went straight into goalie's gloves. We all remembered Fry's beaming boat-race as he got a clap from fans, although he wasn't too happy facing a long trip home and in bed very late to boot with only a point.
Ormerod, Watson, Cullip, Crosby, Mayo, Thomas, Rogers, Oatway, Brooker, Ramsay (Ling), Hart (Aspinall).
Div 3 (League 2) P 44 . W 15 D 16 L 13 . F 61 A 45 . Pt 61 Po 12


Season 1 (H) 9/11/99 FAC 1R - 3-0 ~ Rogers, Watson, Mayo
Posh popped down for this FA Cup round one replay after failing to make home advantage count in flattest fenlands. That initial stalemate had been an entertaining contest between second in the table United and mid table Albion. These sorts of replays were therefore thought to be equally close. Visiting teams came to Withdean for the first time for obvious reasons and at this level, quite a few had adapted quickly and taken points back to more normal places of residence. Peterborough had once been in equivalent of the Championship but fell almost as quickly as debts accumulated. Barry Fry became manager in 1996 but couldn't stop the rot at Posh. He was a colourful character to say the least and had managed Birmingham City for a spell before getting the tintack. United had missed out on play-off spots for the last two years but with Fry there, anything could happen. Knowing his cavalier style he'd likely buy the club for a hobby.
On the night 5600 attended, which was more than a reasonable crowd for an extra game slipped in at short notice. Posh were all in red which contrasted with the first contest when Albion donned red and black away stripes. There was a half decent atmosphere after Micky Adams had played a psychological card, calling for fans to get behind the lads. An early goal set Brighton on their way when Rogers shot home inside 10 minutes. Our promotion chasing visitors were then held at arms length and prevented from getting on the score sheet. That helped make it doubly difficult for them around the hour mark when Watson got a second direct from a corner. We'd gone thru but would you believe it when sub Mayo got a very late cup-tie goal - like last year at Orient. Adams said, 'we were up for it. We didn't allow them to settle and that made a difference. We also set standards.'
Walton, Watson, Cullip, Carr, McPherson, Campbell, Rogers, Oatway, Aspinall, Thomas (Cameron), Hart (Ramsay).