Reading - Home, Withdean Era
Season 7 (H) 9/8/05 - 0-2
A very pleasant summer evening passed at Withdean, for a first home fixture played on a superb surface. There was supposedly a sell out crowd, although officially only 6600 odd came along. Even if a magic number with a 7 in front could have been reached, the atmosphere was still considerably subdued. Plans were afoot to actually increase capacity to 9k, by revamping the open west end - to 'delight' future visitors even more.
Brighton began developing a reputation for conceding soft goals, beginning on this night. A free kick into the area went right over, across and down into our goal. It was a total 90 min of frustration and a Withdean effect of increasing poor home form continued a trend from '04/5 season. Just past the hour a free header finally buried our chances of a point, when the best team then won. Steve Coppell knew he had a side good enough to push for promotion, while Mark McGhee didn't have enough quality to compete. He said, 'we know we've got to be up for every game this season. In order to be successful, we have to play well as a team'. Bits and pieces were there but merely required joining together.
Henderson, Dodd (Turienzo), McShane, Butters, Mayo, Reid, Carpenter, Oatway, Hammond, Knight, Kazim-Richards (Robinson).
Champ's P 2 . W 0 D 1 L 1 . F 1 A 3 . Pt 1 Po 22

Season 6 (H) 21/3/05 - 0-1
'Ah ha-ha, hee-hee, hee - Stevie Coppell's got VD', goes a chant that Albion away fans give voice to when they've run out of insults for the local home mob. Older supporters of an ultra tribal nature also seem to have a lifelong downer on the thoughtful ex-England player. Whatever take you have on that Palace rivalry, he came and did a job at Brighton. Coppell nearly pulled proverbial fat from fire, in the nick of time from a devil take the hindmost situation in a frantic season of '02/3. Further to that, Brighton were top of what is now League 1 when he left for a real stadium, pounds in pockets and daydreams that could be converted for entry into elite football supplements. Even a terrace moron had to admit the guy was a winner. Coppell said, 'what we are lacking at the moment is inspiration, a goal out of nothing, that little bit that takes you apart from everyone else because there are so many teams who are much of a muchness.' There were Brighton fans who could still imagine he was talking about div1 Albion.
On the night it was like bad reality TV played out in the open, covered by Sky. Trouble was Brighton stars were somewhat obscured and a blue audience was getting wet and miserable. Albion were shaming themselves in full view of public floodlit glare for live game, bar room, know it all punters to criticise. And to think Reading nicked it through handball that amazingly only Ref didn't notice. Hinshelwood ruptured his cruciate ligament before half an hour, McCammon was carried off at halftime and Mayo limped to sidelines just on an hour gone. Withdeanites realised they were becoming embroiled in one hellava dog fight from now on that had looked so avoidable at the end of February. We were where we were because we couldn't cut it over the 39 steps to safety so far. McGhee had to get his thinking cap on, stop blaming Ref and find us a way to get six points soon.
Champ's P 39 . W 12 D 8 L 19 . F 33 A 55 . Pt 44 Po 19

Season 4 (H) 30/11/02 - 0-1
There were so many of those one-nil reversals this season and this was another of them. Albion had been at foot of the table for a while and previously just about managed to win our first two home matches. Sides were coming down to Withdean though, looking for an easy win and under Coppell Brighton were attempting to be harder to beat. However, luck is sometimes absent altogether for lowly placed teams and a mistake at the back was unduly punished. Defences were generally on top, while lone strikers did a lot of running and holding up to little or no effect. Mid-field masses seemed to be order of the day and perhaps a touch of creative flair might have delivered if offered earlier. Their keeper had a good one of course and managed to keep it clean again, as we tried to soil his recent record in late stages.
Coppell said, 'I think that match shows how thin the dividing line can be between success and failure. Although we did have opportunities in the second half we found it very hard to isolate their defenders to try and expose individual frailties.' Reading were on a decent run and almost specialists at single goal wins. Their defence didn't give much away to say the least and Brighton struggled to make any impression. Coppell continued, 'this has been typical of our goals against column since I have become manager. We have been far too fragile at the back and an average of two goals a game against would almost certainly see us relegated.'
Steve Sidwell who Coppell had used, successfully and effectively when at Brentford in a previous season, was an on loan prospect from Arsenal's huge squad list. He played in mid-field but had desire to get forward and had scored twice for Albion in four appearances to date. Other people noticed too and within weeks he had gone and signed for Reading. You know the rest.
Kuipers, Watson, Pethick, Cullip, Mayo, Jones (Brooker), Sidwell, Carpenter (Webb), Rodger, Hart, Zamora.
Div 1 (Champ's) P 20 . W 3 D 3 L 14 . F 20 A 39 . Pt 12 . Po 24

Season 3 (H) 11/2/02 - 3-1 ~ Zamora, Melton, Lewis
This fixture was originally scheduled for one of those Friday night pre-Xmas entertainments, when for some fans - shopping meant Saturday. However extreme elements intervened at the Tongdean Lane bowl cold spot, in the form of a hard frost. Since that postponement BHA had got a nice set of covers for the season of goodwill. Also, a man and a van to take full responsibility and a fork or two, to go between Falmer training pitches and Withdean match-day surface. At the time Reading had been sitting in a play-off spot but were now in the driving seat and motoring. Taylor said, 'Zamora was rested for the last game. With the situation as it was after an hour or so, we sent Bobby on. Unfortunately he ended up losing his temper and got sent off.' Needless to say, two days later on a wet Monday night he was starting against the present table toppers.
Previously on that Saturday Taylor had brought Junior Lewis in on loan from Leicester and put him on the bench. He came on and watched Zamora head for the dressing room a tad early. Lewis also started now and proved to be a positive bonus, although carrying an injury that couldn't be disguised in later matches. Taylor said, 'I felt the team played brilliantly. We scored three very well worked goals and it was the best performance at home since I arrived at the club.' The boss had given a fair assessment and loads of Brighton fans well remember those goals. Reading were ultra defensive but Zamora opened 'em up on the hour, crashing in a shot across the keeper to see raindrops fly from the bulging net. He then worked a sublime 1-2 with Melton, who chipped over the goalie into the top corner. Lewis slid a third home after Zamora did the spadework in the area at the death. For the record, Royals also got on the scoresheet. Brighton looked like an outfit able to go the extra mile and had bounced straight back from three heavy defeats inside a month. Withdean really was a fortress and talk about singing in the rain yet again...
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Virgo, Pethick, Hart, Melton, Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 32 . W 17 D 10 L 5 . F 45 A 33 . Pt 61 . Po 2

Reading - Away, Withdean Era
Season 7 (A) 10/12/05 - 1-5 ~ Kazim-Richards
Something of a humiliation played out at league leaders Reading. Goals came at 27, 51, 71 and 77 minutes for the home outfit. We replied on 84 min but let in a fifth more or less on full-time. Brighton went into the break only one down, to an og - so could consider themselves unlucky when a clearance was miscued. The real tipping point came immediately after emptying coffee cups when Gary Elphick was sent off for a second bookable offence. It was the kid's debut and he never got on the park for Albion again, going on to a non-league career. Reading cheated for their killer second, a controvertial penalty decision. After conceding a third, the unfortunate kid's brother came on as a sub to try to stop the rot. McGhee started with 541 but obviously had to abandon early, incredibly then shaping to 342 in a bid to salvage a forlorn point at two down. Coppell held all the aces, although a CKR hopeful punt prevented a whitewash. If we had restarted the game all square and eleven a side, with just 20 mins to play we'd still have been beat by a much better side.
It was halfway thru the season and did not bode well for part two. Assuming a minimum 50 points required for survival, there was an awful lot of wins needed to restore parity, A figure of 1.33 pts per game was necessary on average. One thing seemed obvious, better to lose one then win the next than scrape two draws in any prolonged sequence until end of next April.
Blayney, Hart, G Elphick, El-Abd, Butters, Reid (Robinson), Carole (Kazim-Richards), Hammond, Oatway, Frutos, Knight (T Elphick).
Champ's P 23 . W 2 D 13 L 8 . F 22 A 35 . Pt 19 Po 22

Season 6 (A) 7/8/04 - 2-3 ~ Molango, Robinson
Back in div1, now renamed the Championship, for this opener on a hot summer afternoon at the Mad Stad kicking off the '04/5 season. Brighton had also received a recent promotion of sorts, when the DPM called for a second Public Inquiry into Falmer - versus 7 alternative sites. This got round the problem of two PI#1 inspectors rubbishing original planning applications in favour of NIMBY protests. Dick Knight said, 'neither report displays much evidence of understanding our city and what the Albion means to it.' He added, regarding PI#2 directives, 'another positive step is that the stadium must be located in the Brighton & Hove conurbation.' Martin Perry further remarked, 'the only way Falmer can be defeated is if opponents identify a site that works - it is time for them to put up or shut up.'
Much of the play-off final squad was still on the books, although there were long-term injuries to address. Darren Currie, Alexis Nicolas, Maheta Molango and Albert Jarrett had come in, while Chris Iwelumo had inexplicably gone abroad. Development of youngsters coming through youth ranks was to be stepped up. Mark McGhee said, 'unless players can bring a quality of play and a physical capability, there will be casualties. By end of season we will be a far better team than we are today.'
Brighton scored at Reading inside a few seconds from kick-off via Molango. The home outfit then equalised a minute later, from hesitation in our box when heading clear. A killer goal just before halftime sealed our fate. They were too good and Coppell knew all about our shortcomings anyway. Royals were running away with it on the hour, before Robinson came on and gave us hope from in close. Unfortunately Albion looked like a side opposition considered would be at the bottom and gave us little respect either, in endeavouring to try and rise above a pretty mediocre performance.
Kuipers, Virgo (Robinson), Cullip, Butters, Harding, Currie, Reid, Oatway (Hinshelwood), Nicolas, Jarrett (Jones), Molango
Champ's P 1 . W 0 D 0 L 1 . F 2 A 3 . Pt 0 Po 19

Season 4 (A) 4/4/03 - 2-1 ~ Brooker, Kitson
For the record, the first session of the first PI into Falmer had nearly completed. BHA had launched a strong, if not watertight case and we thought it was all over... it still isn't at time of this piece going to press - 4 years later and counting. This game was broadcast on Sky and our record of televised matches was essentially of lowlights. On the pitch things were looking up, as an away win at that Mad Stad jolted our not so near neighbours. Royals had always thought of themselves as the true class team of promotion from div2 a year before. They had done all right in div1 and actually aspired to a play-off place. Brighton fans would know of a much maligned ex-Prem striker, Paul Kitson who had come here in Hinshelwood's day and been injured ever since. Anyway, he nutted a winner after coming on as sub and greatly er, enhanced his reputation. He probably was a class act and had comeback via reserves so was match fit. Mind you, PK went off once at Woodside Road injured on yet another return.
A bizarre free kick on a Friday night in Springtime started the ball rolling after a quarter of an hour. Zamora quickly took it in Reading's area and Brooker tapped in. Their goalie had handled a back-pass and paid the price. Unbelievably the second half flashed by until Kitson headed Brighton into a two goal lead with 15 minutes left. The original Ref got injured and just before 90 min, Reading got one back from a lucky long shot. A load of stoppage time then ensued for some inexplicable reason. How time dragged now for emotional Brighton fans. It was like a Cup atmosphere for excitement and tension. In a nerve wracking final few moments, Albion hung on for a splendid win. What a result! Coppell said, 'some of our outstanding recent victories have passed by almost un-noticed but in front of TV cameras bring instant reactions from everybody. We must not get carried away, relax or let it affect our games.'
Beasant, Watson, Ingimarsson, Cullip, Mayo, Brooker (Kitson), Carpenter, Rodger (Oatway), Hart (Jones), Barrett, Zamora.
Div 1 (Champ's) P 41 . W 10 D 10 L 21 . F 42 A 60 . Pt 40 Po 22

Season 3 (A) 9/3/02 - 0-0
In '98/9 while BHA were travelling up and down to Gillingham because there was no pitch suitable for FL rules and regs in Sussex, Reading had moved in to a pukka stadium. Moneymen had sold the Goldstone years before and condemned the club to a trashcan. Moneybags Madejski had gotten rid of old Elm Park but built a super duper complex on the site of a disused rubbish tip and then coined it in. Brighton were forced to try and make sense of their daily nightmare, as far flung schemes were tabled in attempting to secure a future. Reading were meanwhile living the dream and it was only a matter of time before a taste for quality meant lap of luxury. Then we came home.
For a ground with a 25000 capacity and 4000 allocation to visitors, Reading originally offered only 2000 tickets. These were all inevitably snapped up - double quick by Albion away scheme members. In the event, just short of 3000 got in to make up a 22000 gate. Brighton fans did themselves proud but in truth, this modern venue helped and an atmosphere atomised beneath a continuous roof with little enforced generation. Reading had been top of the table since January and had opened a gap to Brighton and p-o chasing clubs behind. But although they were there on merit, they were also to be shot at to stop 'em getting away with it. Taylor put out probably a first choice line-up, with a strong bench as back up. A sub keeper hadn't been in the sixteen for over a month and options were mainly defensive for ongoing changes in action. Taylor said, 'backing was brilliant and three thousand out-sung the home fans. It was just a shame we didn't get the three points that we deserved. Whether Hart's effort should have been struck off was debateable - sometimes they go for you. Overall I felt we were the better side and created the better chances. Now focus turns to the final eight games. We're in a great position, in good form so let's go for it.' Falmer was only on the distant horizon and if we made div1, fans were questioning if we could stay there in the interim.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Hart, Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Steele (Pethick), Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 38 . W 19 D 13 L 6 . F 52 A 37 . Pt 70 Po 2