Southend - Away, Withdean Era
Season 11 (A) 17/4/10 - 1-0 ~ Barnes
Another pathetic third tier season was meandering to a close and although we were all but safe, United were in deep relegation trouble. Gus Poyet put out an eleven to include quality loan players and wanted these points to secure safety. Mind you, Albion's away form was at least up to play-off standard, where seven previous victories on travels kept us in mid table. On a good day, GP could get into BHA heads and we'd play pukka footy on the floor. On a bad day it was back to same old, especially at Withdean. Over 1300 B'fans turned up for an all-ticket match in sunny Essex on sea. There were probably worse games indured in league2 but hey, we'd have to be mugs to go there now.
After fourteen minutes Albion had done a lot of defending to repulse waves of United attacks. Then a minute later Barnes netted, following a miss by Hendrie in the area (15min). It was a big blow to the home outfit but BHA settled into stride and got a grip. Blues felt blue before half time coz they missed a chance or two to level. After the break Navarro was on to be m-f general and later Dicker arrived to help. United were big lads but this wasn't really a dirty contest, only lacking in decent football. Hoyte filled in at full back when probable player of the year Calderon got a dead leg. It all ended as end of season stuff, with Brezovan punching everything in the air to boot. B'ton saw it out, won ugly and yeah, it coulda been a lot worse this year after all is said and done. It didn't look like we'd be back for quite a while.
Brezovan, Calderon (Hoyte), Elphick, El-Abd, Painter, Crofts, Arismendi (Navarro), Hendrie (Dicker), Bennett, Barnes, Murray.
League1 P 43 . W 13 D 13 L 17 . F 53 A 59 . Pt 52 Po 14

Season 10 (A) 22/8/08 - 2-0 ~ Murray, Forster
It was a Friday evening, weather was half decent in a wet summer and United's pitch couldn't be bad at this stage of the season. Micky Adams was returning there since 2000 opening fixture and our record wasn't anything but bad at Roots Hall - see below. Adams wanted to up the ante after a poor first home game, although Brighton were unbeaten in three. His 'simple but effective' approach was to use width and let class tell after getting crosses to strikers. He'd got Virgo back and added Hawkins, Livermore and McLeod - who unfortunately was injured. Richards had got another loan spell from Ipswich like last term.
During an early battle for supremacy, Kuipers got a boot up the rear from ex-Albion front man Revell when on the deck. Both received a yellow card and no love was lost between ambitious sides thereafter. Brighton fans were right behind our outfit for first half and saw Revell hit a post before too long. We went in for refreshments at nil-nil but it sure was tough out there. Just over an hour gone Southend went down to ten men with a straight red from a foul on Virgo. Brighton began to pick it up and use space to advantage. On 75 min Murray scored when converting a free kick into the area from Livermore. Blues tried hard to stay in this match, although Ref didn't tolerate anything too desperate. They had chances but hey, it was their place after all. Albion were going to squeeze out a one-nil win when Forster popped up to convert a Thomson pass below us. 1100 Brighton fans chanted, 'Harding, what's the score?' as United's other ex-BHA player got plenty of verbal abuse throughout. We might forget players, can't forgive disloyalty but will always remember this timely victory.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Hawkins, Richards, Cox (Hart), Thomson, Virgo, Livermore (Loft), Murray, Forster
League1 P 3 . W 2 D 1 L 0 . F 5 A 2 . Pt 7 Po 1

Season 9 (A) 8/4/08 - 0-2
Brighton and Southend were each chasing a play-off spot. Both clubs had also got the nod for future new stadiums so there was extra incentive for them to regain Championship status asap. At the halfway stage back in December, two sets of seasiders were found in mid table with only 33 points totalled. An improvement in form was therefore necessary to make p-o's, where 73pts was a recognised target. However it was the Essex outfit who put an unbeaten run of 10 together by time this originally postponed fixture was played. Trouble was they were ones struggling a bit when scheduled to meet at end of January. Albion came here following a disasterous home defeat to Port Vale that all but scuppered our challenge. United meanwhile were sitting pretty in 5th and had reached 20 wins for 68pts, as opposed to BHA's rather feeble 60pts.
Southend dominated the first half and scored at 24 & 30 minutes to kill us off. They hit a bewildered Brighton on the break from our own corner and a bloke went all the way thru. Moments later Albion couldn't mark for toffee again and Blues knocked it in sweet-as. Brighton's second half display was better but Southend had already nailed it by the break. Getting forward didn't seem to be a problem for our strikers but they needed the ball. When delivered, Albion lacked a cutting edge and were too easily blunted by strong defenders. We looked lightweight, hesitant and short of being a top ten side. All very disappointing after a mad March of 9 matches with 15 points accumulated.
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Butters (Gatting), Mayo, Cox, Thomson, Racon, Westlake (Robinson), Murray, Forster.
League1 P 42 . W 16 D 12 L 14 . F 52 A 47 . Pt 60 Po 9

Season 8 (A) 19/9/06 Lg Cup - 2-3 ~ Cox, El-Abd
September and Brighton had a round 2 League Cup tie at Southend of all places, having missed them in the Saturday grind for several seasons. Still, it was a real step forward to get past the usual August exit by knockout. A few hundred Seagulls supporters floated into United's rickety Roots Hall, to give a display of Sussex singing to entrance Essex locals. Brighton paraded in all white and hoped to dazzle Blues under floodlight on a glorious grass green surface.
For the first 70 minutes there was deadlock but of a Championship standard, as both sides actively sought an opener. Fans witnessed a flowing game played at pace, with plenty of passing on the perfect pitch. Albion went ahead to a Cox cracker, completing a fluid move. Three minutes from the necessary ninety, Shrimpers snatched an equaliser to make extra time a probability. Wilkins went to play out final moments with a late sub in defence and suddenly we'd been caught cold from a corner that opened flood gates.
Sixty seconds later a speculative punt put Seagulls into the drink, as the surging on-sea outfit scored a sensational strike. An action replay repeated delayed dunking a third time well into stoppage. Bizarrely, if that is a suitable word, B'ton netted a second from a free kick assist seconds before supper time. Brighton fans felt like flotsam washed up on a Thames estuary beach after an unexpected squall over-turned the resorts visitors' pleasure cruise.
Kuipers, Reid (Butters), El-Abd, Lynch, Mayo, Fraser, Hammond, Cox, Frutos (Loft), Revell, Hart (Robinson).

Season 2 (A) 12/8/00 - 0-2
Micky Adams liked to go over to Ireland for pre-season friendlies, to stay at a place called Ballygar in County Galway. They enjoyed genuine Irish hospitality and a 'good o'time was had by all.' Pitches were said to be green and lush and everybody thought they were in clover. Adams had now sorted out the squad and released several after a mediocre mid-table finish in '99/00. He had brought in a new goalkeeper Michel Kuipers, an ex-Dutch Marine signed from Bristol Rovers. Paul Brooker had cost 25k after being on loan here previously and impressing. Richard Carpenter came on a free transfer from Cardiff and Adams had tried to get him once before for 50k. Lee Steele arrived from Shrewsbury with a half decent scoring record. A young mid-fielder who liked to get forward Steve Melton, had been released by Nott'm Forest. Brighton's first opponents were Southend and their player of the year Nathan Jones swapped Essex for Sussex but still decided to get his feet wet. He didn't play at Roots Hall though - he was suspended, like Danny Cullip. Just before the new season kicked off, Bobby Zamora was signed for 100k from Bristol Rovers reserves. That sensational deal really had made the updated BHA web-site hum with mega hits.
Summer in sunny Southend turned into a damp squib for 3500 travelling fans. Expectations for a great season ahead were impossibly high at this stage and it wasn't as if Albion had a tried and tested outfit, fully integrated and fine-tuned - yet! Adams wanted supporters to keep the faith after a two-nil reversal on opening day. Kuipers got substituted after half time by on loan goalie Mark Cartwright. Apparently his kicking was below par. Nobody exactly covered themselves with glory and Adams thought United deserving winners. If this was typical of the standard in div3 then it was going to be another long hard season and another expensive one, especially if we failed to reach play-offs a second time through the Withdean experience.
Kuipers (Cartwright), Watson, Carr, Crosby, Mayo (Freeman), Oatway, Rogers, Carpenter, Hart (Steele), Zamora, Brooker.
Div 3 (League 2) P 1 . W0 D 0 L 1 . F 0 A 2 . Pt 0 Po 20

Season 1 (A) 2/11/99 - 1-2 ~ Watson
A visit to Roots Hall was pretty popular among Brighton fans, even for a Tuesday night in November. Slightly more than one thousand travelled, perhaps mindful of the fact that Essex seasiders had done the double either side of that huge Thames estuary, when Albion's 'home' was Gillingham. In three years United had fallen from div1 to 18th in div3. They had to arrest that slide at sometime, just like their now Sussex based rivals were attempting so to do. Southend were pushing up the table and trying to settle in a play-off spot. Brighton wallowed in mid-table, with a new team of potential but far from tried and tested. United were strong at home, while Albion had only lost one away from Withdean. In the event, Brighton took a lead but ended up losing at rickety Roots Hall. Watto was twice on the spot to see the ball enter the net - pity about the second one, when supposedly defending.
Adams sent out five at the back but even with seven clean sheets from fifteen fixtures, hadn't so far tipped the balance toward a consistently victorious side. All defeats had been by one goal, so the rearguard looked ok at this stage. Freeman was leading scorer on 6 but three of those had been on day one at Withdean, in a match that everybody remembers for the final score. Hart had got 3 goals and Adams must have stepped up his search for a front man because Cameron hadn't yet found the net and didn't figure much. Defenders and midfield were chipping in here and there but Albion needed a regular hit man to be a force to be reckoned with. All in all there were gaps in squad numbers that couldn't as yet be filled by fringe players or kids making the jump from boys footy. Incidentally Brighton reserves had beaten Southend seconds 4-1 at Worthing to give some hope for the future. Adams knew there was a fine line between success and mid-table anonymity, which depended on the calibre of marksmen he would have to target.
Walton, Watson, Cullip, Carr, McPherson (Thomas), Campbell, Freeman (Ramsay), Rogers, Oatway, Aspinal (Mayo), Hart.
Div 3 (League 2) P 15 . W 6 D 4 L 5 . F 22 A 14 . Pt 22 Po 11

Southend - Home, Withdean Era
Season 11 (H) 19/9/09 - 2-3 ~ Forster 2
Tony Bloom had put a couple of his mates on the board, although they were skint. But he didn't need extra dosh coz he wuz minted for Falmer and stuff. He'd got racehorses and other gaming interests too. He was a fan and put his money where Dick Knight's mouth was. Falmer was daily reaching for the sky, although the squad had been stuck in the gutter. Perhaps TB would give RS an extra budget to attract other than level three skill and control. Anyway it was a lovelee September afternoon and over 6200 turned up in shirt-sleeves to witness an improving BHA outfit rev2 mark2 style.
On 8min United went ahead with a bizarre header from low level over FDM's stretch. Forster got us level (21m) when he got on the end of a square ball and slotted home. On 27m Southend led again following another FDM miss at high level and they tapped in. Just before h-t Forster found space to drill one in after beating an opponent in a fair challenge. The second half wasn't big and it wasn't clever either. Albion were misfiring up the sharp end and not so hot at the back to boot. It was all petering out in a draw when disaster struck. On 90+ in stoppage a sub visitor had plenty of energy to go solo and beat Kuipers dive. Coaches report said - must try harder in future or face the drop to lower standards. Oh yes it did and they were right on this occasion.
Kuipers, Virgo, Elphick, Tunnicliffe, El-Abd, Bennett, Dicker, Crofts, Davies A (Cox), Dickinson (Davies C), Forster (Hart).
League1 P 8 . W 2 D 2 L 4 . F 7 A 13 . Pt 8 Po 19

Season 10 (H) 10/3/09 - 1-3 ~ Owusu
This was new boss Russell Slade's first home Tuesday night fixture and he'd merely arrived at Withdean on the Friday beforehand. White & Booker were holding the fort since departure of Micky Adams during February and were forced to get on-loans in double-quick because of an injury crisis. Owusu, Heath, Bangura, Andersen and Borrowdale all arrived the previous week to bolster a weakened squad. At one time over ten pro's were either sick, lame or suspended and fringe players unavailable or just too young to start. It was a nice calm evening and an attitude of hope prevailed beforehand, although only 5000 made it to kick-off.
United came here on a useful run of form and with outside p-o claims. BHA were under pressure at bottom of League1 and desperate for points. Albion couldn't get a lead and Blues nicked one first. They slotted home unmarked (23m), after B'ton's defence watched them play keep ball. Just before h-t Owusu converted Borrowdale's perfect cross. There was all to play for and Brighton had most of possession, however Southend were probably better at football. They scored a Prem-style goal (83m) to go ahead. Then done us for sure (89m) with a precise counter attack. Brighton fans were making for exits long before that Essex mob left the building. We were now in deep doo-doo.
Andersen, Whing, Heath, El-Abd, Borrowdale (Hinshelwood), Carole (Birchall), Jarrett, Bangura, Cox, Davies (Forster), Owusu.
League1 P 34 . W 7 D 11 L 16 . F 37 A55 . Pt 32 Po 22.

Season 9 (H) 1/9/07 - 3-2 ~ Forster 2, Hammond
Ten years up for Mr Knight & Co - cheers chaps and Falmer too! Well over six years since we last met and a new generation of players emerged. Kuipers, Mayo and Hart were still on the books but Oatway retired and Cullip was now at QPR. Crosby had got promoted with Scunthorpe, while previously Jones went to Yeovil. Zamora eventually scored a few for West Ham and Brooker dropped into League 2. He and Carpenter came down for Mayo's pre-season testimonial and got a good hand. Brighton latterly signed two new midfielders on loan, Martot from Le Havre and O'Callaghan an Irish bloke from Cork, via Vale and Ipswich. Both went straight in and done good - O'Call'n got MoM and looked a class act operating from a deep position down the middle in 451.
At h-t it was 0-1 and you wondered if that old Withdean hoodoo had struck for another season, as FDM was unsighted and got beat by a long daisy cutter just before tea and sympathy. Brighton levelled it after tactical substitutions, bringing on Robinson and later Savage. Super Baz set up two easy chances for Forster, who bagged his first (75) and second (85) of this repeat League 1 campaign. Southend had gone ahead twice but we made it level five min from time. Brighton fans got behind the lads and a revamped 442 shape put the proverbial pedal down for a fast climax. Hammond headed the very late winner on time from a Rents corner. Withdean was warm and wonderful and sunny from then on - or so it seemed after a grey afternoon but on cloud nine.
Kuipers, El-Abd, Elphick, Butters (Rents), Lynch, Revell, Martot (Savage), O'Callaghan, Hammond, Cox, Forster.
League 1 P 4 . W 2 D 0 L 2 . F 6 A 7 . Pt 6 Po 10

Season 2 (H) 1/1/01 - 0-2
Micky Adams took his squad to a hotel on New Years Eve as part of preparation for the first of a series of return matches for second half of the season. He needn't have bothered - the game was played on a mud patch that purported to be a pitch. Albion were humbled a second time by Southend who did better in dire conditions. Adams was philosophical after the 12-noon contest was deemed ok to go ahead and took on an aspect of a lottery. Brighton had chances but their numbers didn't come up today. Zamora and Freeman started subs but came on before half time in a tactical reshuffle, playing on supposed strength in a manager's hand of bluff. Dave Lee, who a year later was to come to Albion in '01/2 via Hull, scored in each contest home and away. He had hit the net at Roots Hall in August from a spectacular long-range free kick, after Brighton erroneously thought they'd be seeing a much earlier winning representation of div3 champions. Incidentally, Peter Taylor didn't tinker a lot with Adams eventual successive div2 title winners. That meant Lee, who was a central midfield linkman, effectively remained a sub to players of the calibre of Carpenter and Junior Lewis. It was even tougher in div1 to be selected - as seasoned pro's soon found out.
2001 was BHA centenary year and fans were snapping up blue & white striped shirts with badges of the twin towns on centre chest. At turn of the twentieth century, a professional club called Rangers had existed and played in north Brighton suburbs at Home Farm, not far from Withdean. Events conspired to leave the town without a pro side for Southern League fixtures and so BHA was born to fill the void. They ended up at the Goldstone Ground in Hove, as part of a ground-share agreement with Hove FC. They stayed there for 97 years but truly devoted Brightonians were latterly trying to find an alternative site. A proper stadium was required for modern times, as adjacent Boroughs politically progressed towards a unified conglomeration of B&H. It all started to come together at last when overtaken by third millennium cause and effect. A new era had begun with a return home.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Crosby (Wicks), Mayo, Rogers, Oatway, Carpenter, Jones (Freeman), Brooker (Zamora), Hart.
Div 3 (League 2) P 24 . W 15 D 3 L 6 . F 40 A 20 . Pt 48 Po 2

Season 1 (H) 11/3/00 - 1-0 ~ Hart
United and Albion were having similar sorts of season. If either side could put a run together, there was still an outside chance of making play-offs. Micky Adams had rebuilt a BHA team for the first year back in Brighton and needed a little consistency to give a measure of how competitive we were. Two players had come in on loan to bolster a settled but small squad. Paul Brooker took the no. 6 shirt, which was spare after Hobson went to Chester. Bobby Zamora got no. 25, merely hanging limp since Newhouse failed to hold down the position earlier. Adams had been looking for a scorer to give extra impetus to an outfit who otherwise grabbed goals from all over the park. Zamora had got a hat trick in his third game for Albion and looked really good for an inexperienced kid. If only Brighton could pick up a few more wins and consolidate in the top ten, seemingly the sky was there to be reached next term.
It was nil-nil continuously on the day, well at 90 minutes anyway. In the first half Albion should have registered something on the score sheet given their dominance. Time ticked away and zero was all that appeared to be left from the fixture. Nathan Jones who played left back for Southend, was sent off for two bookables but went into Adams notebook anyway for different reasons. Ref nearly got to the end but was stretchered off by St Johns ambulance personnel. Then things changed in front of the net. Oatway was out wide with seconds to go. He crossed and Hart headed in. Southend protested the ball was out of play and handled to boot. The sub Ref gave a goal and overruled infractions. Before too long he blew-up, deep into stoppage - arguments thus carried on thru the tunnel and into dressing rooms.
Zamora went back to Bristol Rovers reserves after this fixture. He had scored six in six - a record ratio. Adams said, 'I don't see the need to disrupt the squad too much. If there's a player I think would improve the team, I've got licence to go and get him.' Yes, we thought he would too.
Walton, Watson, Crosby, McPherson, Mayo, Freeman (Carr), Rogers, Oatway, Brooker (Aspinal), Hart, Zamora.
Div 3 (League 2) P 36 . W 12 D 11 l 13 . F 50 A 41 . Pt 47 Po 16