Swindon - Home, Withdean Era
Season 12 (H) 26/3/11 - 2-1 ~ Dicker, Murray
They made it a 1pm k-o, which either meant brunch prior to going there, or fast food Withdean style, before, during but probably not after. Also, there remained merely four future home fixtures until it was all over at the old sports complex beside a nature reserve. And the theatre of trees had its ups and downs and played host too for several useful Championship sides during twelve years of open-air existence. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in spring and over 7500 turned up. BHA were on a sequence of six straight wins and were unbeaten at bottom of Tongdean Lane this term.
Gus Poyet's table toppers set off to win it and Noone got through with a mazy dribble. After ending in a heap with defenders, Ref pointed to the spot and Dicker scored (12min). Swindon came out and hit back when netting from distance with Ankergren deceived by flight of the ball (22m). You had to hand it to Town, they made a game of it and argued long and hard with Ref when he gave Albion another penalty in the second period. But Dicker didn't bag a brace and Robins ran up to the Worthing end and hit the bar. It took a moment of magic from Murray to win this contest balanced on a knife edge. He pushed his total up to 19 with a sweet finish when running on to a defence splitting pass (64m). Gus swapped m-f for remainder of the fixture as Town tried to level and help their fight against relegation. But luck was with us and not them and home advantage counted for everything as B'ton went 13pts clear of runners-up. Promotion as champions was there for taking.
Ankergren, Calderon, Greer, Elphick, Painter, Noone (Kishishev), Bridcutt, Dicker, Sparrow (Bennett), Sandaza (Dunk), Murray
League1 P 37 . W 24 D 8 L 5 . F 68 A 27 . Pt 80 Po 1

Season 11 (H) 13/3/10 - 0-1
Because he was regared as an old friend, Danny Wilson received due respect from Brighton fans. He'd got Town to challenge for a p-o spot this term and they came to W'dean in sixth place of L1 table. However, they'd previously suffered a reversal at Magic Roundabout versus Bristol R 0-4, then a second defeat in midweek at MK Dons 2-1, so Gus Poyet was on guard for a backlash. He noted their overall season results and set out his gameplan. Well, he didn't actually do anything different to our 451 set-up of recent away unbeaten run. So he went with it again at home for a laugh. It was a chilly and grey winter afternoon and the pitch had seen better times but hey, nearly 7k turned up to watch. Media speculation and footy punditry considered Poyet could extend his run of luck, although in truth, this was his first year in management at lower league huff and puff.
Albion opened up at full tilt and could have gone one up inside five minutes quite easily. Then Swindon's goalie got injured, to be replaced by their sub straight away. Later Wilson made another change due to injury. It kinda broke continuity and Robins bobbed around W'dean at the back to go in for h-t still goal-less. Town got a grip of m-f too in the second period and Poyet seemed happy to let it all drift to a nil-nil conclusion. But on 69 min visitors went ahead from a cross that wasn't dealt with in BHA rearguard. GP threw on two forwards almost immediately. It was only a token gesture coz we were never gonna score today. Fans began to drift out of the old sports complex in numbers. Who wanted to keep beating heads on the bloody drop-zone wall week after week?
Brezovan, Calderon, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter (Forster), Bennett, Crofts, Navarro (Holroyd), LuaLua, Murray.
League1 P 35 . W 9 D 11 L 15 . F 40 A 52 . Pt 38 Po 18

Season 10 (H) 11/4/09 - 2-3 ~ Virgo, Dicker
Danny Wilson was an ex-Albion fav from glory years at the Goldstone but took over at Swindon just before Adams left Brighton in the W'dean lurch. Home form was atrocious this term and Slade was drafted in late in the season to sort it out. But he had every excuse under the sun, including injury crises, fixture congestion, bad luck and crap Refs. Oh, it always rained and the fourth official was against him too. On a showery afternoon, over 6500 B'fans sat down to watch our outfit pull off the great escape from the drop zone. Well, that's how it was billed for the kids, who didn't quite expect adults to behave like them beforehand anyway.
To cut to the chase, it ended like a horror movie with fear in eyes and anger from voices. Albion plugged away using a diamond formation in m-f during opening 45min. With rising vocal support, Dicker headed back a corner and Virgo poached a lead not long before h-t (38m). Immediately after the break Swindon hit back - not once but 3 times (47, 50 & 58m). Wilson had sorted our weaknesses and told his strikers to exploit our season-long failings. You could see B'ton backing off when pressured by runners. FDM had a mare and m-f was subbed as we chased the game. Dicker volleyed a late consolation from a Hart centre (89m). Oh it did rain but you can't use that as a valid reason for giving yet another truly wet second period performance.
Kuipers, Whing, Virgo, Elphick, Loft (El-Abd), Dicker, Fraser (Hart), Cox, Davies, Owusu (Andrew)
League1 P 41 . W 9 D 12 L 20 . F 46 A 66 . Pt 39 Po 22

Season 10 (H) JPT QF 12/11/08 - 2-0 ~ Forster, Livermore
This was last of five homes in a row, including LC (Derby) and FAC ties. 2200 faithful turned up on a dry, chilly nite following only 2500 in the Cup on Saturday v Hartlepool. What with two games a week, credit crunches and economic recessions etc, that gate was half decent in the circumstances. Adams had introduced recent on-loan players to bolster an average squad but some of these were cup tied. Others had been out of form and Brighton's League1 displays were a bit in and out. What with injuries and illness, Adams didn't appear to have strength in depth and his side changed game to game. It was now up to fringe players to show themselves, stand up and be counted.
Albion took the lead (24m) after Forster was decked and he bagged the penalty. He'd come back from injury and had been sorely missed during his absence. Just after half-time, Virgo went off with a pulled muscle and Adams reshuffled. County weren't too much of a threat and this tie meandered toward a single goal decision. Then Cox slung over a corner (75m) and Livermore got his head on it to put us two up. Adams slightly altered his 442 shape and tried to get 'em to keep it on the deck in lieu of an obvious target man. His policy was for men to keep the shirt if they done good. The question now was, what was going to be his best or settled side for improving a faltering revolution2?
Kuipers, Whing, Elphick, Virgo (Fraser), Richards, Cox, El-Abd, Livermore, McLeod (Loft), Anyinsah, Forster.

Season 9 (H) 22/3/08 - 2-1 ~ Forster 2
Easter Saturday and the coldest north wind you could imagine on a predominately sunny afternoon. A good 'family' crowd of over 6800 attended and nice to see it, after gates dropped below 5k in winter. Swindon were mid-table but Albion fancied themselves for play-offs after a useful run of form. This was mostly due to the old fortress Withdean effect just like in '03/4. Wilkins had problems with injuries and suspension, having lost Bowditch, Richards, El-Abd and Whing recently. Young fringe players were considered too inexperienced and so Hart and Mayo went in for very infrequent starts. Therry Racon came on-loan from Charlton to immediately fill a hole in midfield.
Town went one up inside 8 minutes, when Albion failed to deal with a corner. It was yet another early set-back and we'd had to come from behind a lot to get owt, especially lately. Forster restored parity quickly on 12 min, when glancing in Cox's flag kick. Both sides had chances but BHA shoulda scored before the break from trying to convert half decent opportunities. Wilkins operated the infamous diamond and the Frenchman fitted in ok. In the second period, Cox got flattened about 20 yards out. Forster stepped up to do a Ronaldo impression and find the top corner (66 min). Albion sat on the lead and even Wilkins went defensive to save tired legs. Another result ground out and if only away form was better, we'd also have been laughing on the Wembley road too.
Kuipers, Hart, Elphick, Lynch, Mayo, Cox (Butters), Thomson, Racon, Westlake (Fraser), Murray, Forster.
League1 P 38 . W 16 D 10 L 12 . F 50 A 42 . Pt 58 Po 7

Season 5 (H) 20/5/04 p-o sf2 - 1-2 ~ Virgo
You don't get many Thursday night games at Withdean. But then again there hadn't been a play-off tie contested at the Fortress before. Of course it rained for good measure to remind us it was all only 'temporary' a home anyway. Mr McGhee said, 'winning would demonstrate why the city needs and deserves a stadium. Where better than in a final at the Millennium Stadium to make our voices heard? We have the task of over-coming Swindon and they argued we were lucky. Our defending was organised, determined, concentrated and resilient. We did not expect lots of scoring opportunities on Sunday but hoped for one or two chances. May the luckiest team win.'
It was a knockout semi-final second leg and credit to Swindon in going for it after starting one down from our first meeting. They played a blinder and their small block of supporters celebrated in the wet when scoring first to level on aggregate. Brighton plugged away but it was turning into one of those desperately close affairs yet again, that had typified div2 run-in results recently. After an allotted 90 minutes it was still 0-1. After extra time it was now 1-2. Right up until final moments Swindon led - they'd netted a second and Brighton had been beaten at home, also seemingly had lost this p-o s-f decider overall. With the clock ticking final moments away, Albion need a miracle and fast. Football is full of emotions and these were dramatically exchanged between rival sets of red and blue with just seconds left. If you'd wanted to read a similar short story in a BHA 'all-time heroes' publication, the editor wouldn't possibly proof the draft because of 'Adam of the Albion' far fetched fiction. But it really was quite factual, as Virgo ran up and dived forward to head an aggregate equaliser for 2-2 from nowhere. A note in the match-day mag read, 'if supporters remain in their seats, players will do a lap of honour. A pitch invasion could lead to injuries.' Then it was Swindon who missed out as Roberts saved one penalty and another hit a post. Albion were thru 4-3 on penalties. Some people were on the pitch, they think...
SQUAD; Roberts, Virgo, Cullip, Butters, Harding, Hart, Oatway, Carpenter, Jones, Knight, Iwelumo, Mayo, Reid, Hinshelwood, Piercy, Kuipers.

Season 5 (H) 6/9/03 - 2-2 ~ Hart, Henderson
In the promotion season of '01/2 from div2, Simon Morgan had played at the back and made a difference to keeping a game where Brighton often led, tight enough to ensure victory. The following season in div1 Guy Butters came in to fill a void left when Morgan retired. Unfortunately he spent a long time in reserves after Steve Coppell brought in Dean Blackwell and later Ivar Ingimarsson to shore up Seagulls creaking defence. Blackwell had now suffered a serious knee injury and other fitness problems along the back line had given Butters a chance to shine. He took it to some effect, to get a long career on the main track for several seasons thereafter. He said, 'people are saying to me that I look a lot better, so hopefully the manager is thinking that. If I'm picked, as always I'll give 110 per cent.'
Swindon did not come down for a point as in the last Withdean encounter at the end of '01/2. The Ref was having a mare and so were several of the home side. A good many clubs could beat one another on any particular day and this result was always in doubt. It might have been considered a game of two equal halves in the circumstances. Town went ahead on 14 minutes and Albion equalised at 15 min. The away mob led again on 67 min and we levelled a second time with a penalty by Henderson after 75 min. Hart had initially scored a solo effort, which at least showed a degree of determination. The sad thing was to see our passing game condemned to hoof and head. It all became a bit of a lottery with a, lob it over and hope approach. Brighton appeared sub standard compared to some half decent performances from the previous relegation campaign. There were even similar comic book moments of a shocking year before. We wanted to now look a class outfit but football style had also dropped to lower levels. Albion did not seem able to get Knight into this match and feed chances principally because service was much too slow.
Roberts, Hinshelwood, Cullip, Butters, Mayo, Hart (Piercy), Carpenter (Harding), Oatway, Rodger, Henderson, Knight.
Div 2 (League 1) P 6 . W 3 D 2 L 1 . F 12 A 8 . Pt 11 Po 5

Season 3 (H) 13/4/02 - 0-0
BHA actually gained promotion before this party pooping shutout by Wiltshire visitors, down for the last home fixture. Peter Taylor thus had successfully carried on good work started back in summer by Micky Adams. Bobby Zamora had scored 28 league goals and also won player of the year in consecutive seasons, as Albion rose directly from div3 to div1. There was still the title to aim for and apparently only six other clubs had historically won different divisions when rising straight through two tiers. The squad came out again to complete a lap of, hopefully champions' honour after this dour goal-less affair against mid-table Swindon. Brighton were unbeaten in eight matches before today and had won six. They'd lost only four matches since turn of the year and all those finished as comprehensive defeats away from Fortress Withdean. In a second season of success, over half of fixtures had been victories but with a mere six games won by more than one goal. We'd almost run away with it a second time but not exactly run riot.
Taylor said, 'it has snowballed from the Colchester game, where we gave a superb first half display and went storming into a three goal lead before the clock had reached the half hour mark. We also performed well at London Road and then Bobby Zamora popped up to secure the points in the second half. Gary Hart broke his leg but will be out of plaster for his wedding in June. Some twenty four hours after Peterborough, the Reading game was about the most unbearable 90 minutes of my life but the feeling at the end was unbelievable.'
On hearing of Brighton's achievement Lord Bassam said, 'I believe promotion will make B&H planning committee's decision one of the key choices ever made by city politicians. The stadium represents our aspirations and dreams. It will reflect confidence people place in the city and its will to succeed. We need to grasp the opportunity that top class football can bring. The club's success puts the city into the premier league of cities across the country. Facilities at Falmer will rival and better most in the UK for quality and style.'
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Jones, Carpenter, Lewis, Brooker, Steele, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 45 . W 24 D 15 L 6 . F 65 A 42 . Pt 86 Po 1

Swindon - Away, Withdean Era
Season 12 (A) 7/8/10 - 2-1 ~ Sparrow 2
Yes folks, it was start of another season and hey, we wuz on the road again for first fixture - coz of Pride in Brighton. Talking about all that, you shoulda seen how massive the Falmer project had become - how proud? It truly was an icon on outskirts of Brighton, that you could see from way out over the Downs. Eat yer heart out, Lewes District Lib Dems - they were after all in coalition with the devil. Anyway seeing was believing and yeah, we believed for all those years in the nineties and noughties. Gus Poyet had signed a deal in summer and would take us to yer promised land whatever. He assembled a revised squad, we hoped with more quality than quantity. He intended to play passing football but didn't expect to be roughed up by tier three toughness. GP got together an integrated group of international personnel and they were bonded tight in several languages.
It was a tad cloudy with showers about but those B'fans on that open terrace didn't care. Brighton went one up inside 20mins when new midfielder Matt Sparrow fired a rocket straight into Robins nest. Town couldn't get level and our outfit imposed 451 come 433 on 'em, with a strong defence and all. Keeper Casper Ankergren arrived just prior to this fixture and didn't have to do much except get booked. Sparrow bagged a brace (75m) when Smith fed him on the break as Town pressed for an equaliser. Robins got one back (80m) when we didn't clear in the box, to set up a slightly nervy finish. Albion were good value for this win and were open for improvement when all elements came together after a few more matches. That was the theory!?!?
Ankergren, Calderon, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter, Bennett, Kishishev (Dicker), Navarro, Sparrow, Smith (Hart), Barnes.
League1 P 1 . W 1 D 0 L 0 . F 2 A 1 . Pt 3 Po 5

Season 11 (A) 19/12/09 - 1-2 ~ Forster
Everything changes and nothing changes. Twelve months since our last visit and it was bloody cold again but snow had fallen and lay across the south-east this time. The country was in depths of a recession and plenty had lost jobs. Gus Poyet took over in autumn from Russ Slade but neither had got results to improve Adams '08/9 record. A change of squad supposedly would fix issues. However, it seemed to be going from bad to worse, although Tony Bloom's millions (approx 100M!) saw Falmer rise high above the now icy duck pond in all kinds of weather. 600 Brighton fans went west and asked themselves could it be better in 2010?
Swindon got a pen (31min) when McNulty went macnutty and pushed a bloke in the area with no danger. But BHA hit back (38m) with super possession footy, giving Bennett a chance to cross for Forster to throw the head in. Then it fell apart (54m) coz an unmarked Town guy nodded home on the far post. BHA huffed and puffed but couldn't blow ought down. Same old from other forwards and m-f, who couldn't grab an equaliser for free ice cream on a freezing afternoon. It would have been better as a postponement, so as not to suffer yet another loss and go home full of cause for concern.
Brezovan, El-Abd, Tunnicliffe (Dickinson), Elphick, McNulty, Bennett, Navarro (Cox), Crofts, Dicker, Forster, Murray (Davies).
League1 P 22 . W 5 D 5 L 12 . F 25 A 41 . Pt 20 P0 21

Season 10 (A) 28/12/08 - 2-0 ~ Forster 2
This fixture marked the half-way stage of a tough season to date. There had been credit crunches, busted banks and economic recession in 2008 but at least BHA were used to being Skint. With Falmer kicking-off a work in progress, we looked forward to a day when itst sponsored a team that could actually be first. Meanwhile there was a job to do to complete return fixtures from New Year and get a better placing. Meanwhile it was post Xmas and following yet another defeat on Boxing Day, Albion just had to come in out of the cold. On a sunny but freezing afternoon, loads of Albion support did the 130 miles into Wiltshire. We hadn't won for seven league1 matches both H&A.
Ex-B'ton Danny Wilson had arrived to pick his first home squad and try to get Town on the up again. Micky Adams was in the same boat, after five months of hard campaigning and a lot of Albion beatings. The first half was pretty dire, with both teams slugging it out. But then Brighton edged ahead (43m) when Forster drove in a decent Fleetwood centre. On the restart B'ton pushed on and got a second (52m). Fleetwood got floored and Forster netted from the spot. Swindon couldn't penetrate our defensive 4-4-2 nor cope with a lively front pairing. In fact Fozzy mighta had a hat-trick but for striking the bar in closing moments. Other chances went begging, while Robins were failing to test rookie keeper Sullivan with any shot on target. Adams was happy, Wilson diplomatic but both knew they had big jobs on in New Year.
Sullivan, Whing, Elphick, Hinshelwood, Richards, Virgo (Murray), Fraser, Johnson, McLeod (Mayo), Fleetwood, Forster.
League1 P 23 . W 5 D 8 L 10 . F 27 A 34 . Pt 23 Po 19

Season 9 (A) 15/12/07 - 3-0 ~ Forster, Robinson, Hammond
Town had come up from League 2 the season before but had problems and were in trouble off the pitch. A new bloke wanted to take over but it was a bit up in the air. They'd started Lg1 ok but Sturrock then left and things slipped. Brighton were in need of a win, having dropped off p-o pace and lost an unbeaten run to Forest. Wilkins was desperate to get back on track - and not just at Withdean! He was attempting to get to Wembley, as we were in both FAC and JPT and all. He'd got a half decent squad together but needed to show some quality in 90 min performances.
Forster scored a sharp Champ's style goal - through awareness and after only 3 minutes. Swindon didn't mount much of a counter and Brighton bossed the first 45. Right on half time Robinson struck a beauty from a Savage reverse pass. In the second period Town got back to making it two sided but our defence kept it clean and protected FDM. He just got cold on a freezing afternoon. Hammond went forward (73 min) to seal victory, stabbing home as he burst through. Our goals were all of individual class and underlined superiority. If only Wilkins could get B'ton to play as an integrated unit, the sky was reachable. Any other scenario would prove disappointing on a 3 year run to get to Falmer.
Kuipers, Whing, El-Abd, Lynch, Richards, Fraser (Reid), O'Callaghan, Hammond, Robinson (Martot), Savage (Revell), Forster.
League 1 P 20 . W 8 D 6 L 6 . F 26 A 20 . Pt 30 Po 7

Season 5 (A) 16/5/04 p-o sf1 - 1-0 ~ Carpenter
It was a Sunday afternoon halfway through May, sunny and very warm. It was also the first of two games in five days to decide who would go on to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. There were over 14000 inside the County Ground and 2600 odd supported Albion on the open Stratton Bank, which was a mass of blue and white. An atmosphere built up long before kick-off and Brighton fans wore paper Prescott facemasks and waved 'one site in Brighton' pro-Falmer placards, as balloons cascaded onto the pitch. Singing and chanting got going in earnest as Albion huddled in b&w, plus wearing blue shorts and socks for the occasion. Roberts in green goalies shirt, stood strong down below a terrace full of Sussex faithful.
Swindon attacked from the off and put Brighton under considerable pressure. They headed just wide and hit the woodwork. Roberts also saved as a tide of red flooded forward, while defence held firm - backed by a wall of seasiders noise. During the run-in to complete div2 fixtures, Brighton had registered seven clean sheets in as many weeks. We would have settled for a nil-nil too at any stage after halftime. Robins' strikers posed a continual threat but couldn't make a breakthrough. With the tie entering a final critical phase, Brighton scored first on 72 minutes. We watched Albion pressing below and Carpenter strike one from distance. We went flipping berserk as his rocket changed course in mid-flight, that also altered a perceived chain of events. You've never seen so many fans hugging and riotously celebrating without inhibition, in front of complete but very silent strangers. We'd just robbed Robins, went one up in Wilts (it was hot!) and did magic to make 'em exit right on the roundabout. If there had been a roof, it would vocally have been ripped off. At the 90 minute whistle, groups of red-shirted fans sat stunned in seats that five months earlier we had occupied in a similar state of depression. Yes we even saw grown men cry.
Roberts, Virgo, Cullip, Butters, Harding, Reid (Hart), Oatway, Carpenter, Jones, Knight, Iwelumo.

Season 5 (A) 28/12/03 - 1-2 ~ Knight
This was the first return match of a season of hope for promotion but any number of clubs were in contention. Little did we know how it would all pan out, although Swindon were as likely candidates for play-offs as anyone else above lower mid-table. There was a feeling among those 1700 or so Seagulls supporters at the County Ground that we coulda, shoulda got more from two clashes with p-o potentials but only a single point by end of 2003. If we'd gone in to winter warming drinks on a late December Sunday afternoon at nil-nil, it mighta been so different. As it was, Swindon snatched a vital lead right on the whistle for end of a first 45 minutes. Brighton had failed to score against a keeper so flapping, the Robins mascot could have done better. Knight came on for the second half and grabbed an equaliser and a booking for undue celebration. There was still thirty-five minutes left and guess what? Albion repeated another set-piece defensive howler on 65 min when failing to clear a bouncing corner in their area. Town then took hold of this fixture and their fans responded. Jones got a red card at the very end.
You almost got a Robin's eye view from high up in their main stand rather than on the open terrace behind a goal. The ball that BHA faithful expect never seemed to get played. There were many instances of chances going begging. We lacked vision and kinda lumped it and hoped. Away form wasn't exactly a runaway train. Somehow we got shunted to a side-track and allowed 'em to steam on thru like an old GWR express. Signals turned to red as their locomotion took station in our box. Town thought they'd got another one but a Russian Lineman's moment went our way by being off track. You'd have thought they'd gone top by beating ex-div1 aspirants as they alarmingly switched points on us.
Flitney, Watson, Cullip, Butters, Mayo, Hart, Carpenter, Yeates, Jones, Piercy (Rehman), McPhee (Knight).
Div 2 (League 1) P 24 . W 11 D 5 L 8 . F 37 A 27 . Pt 38 Po 5

Season 3 (A) 24/11/01 - 1-1 ~ Zamora
There had been activities of a sort on the Falmer front. Two planning applications for Village Way north and south had been submitted for approval in the Local Plan. BHA wanted fans to write to the city council in support of both and add signatures to a petition in appreciation of the project. Later a presentation at Hove Town Hall was given, to reveal, explain and reinforce the message and spread positive information among fans and other supporters. A fan inspired campaign was also launched to ride shotgun alongside our club's efforts to eventually build a community stadium. In future the AONB, where this proposed site was situated would become a National Park and important boundary changes should prevail to reflect new century updating. This would exclude a parcel of land to the south of Falmer village and thus leave their duck pond exposed within a proposed major tourist location for recreation and leisure.
Peter Taylor said, 'Swindon away from home was a game we should have won because of the number of chances we created late on.' Over 2800 travelling Albion fans would have readily agreed. However both sides made a game of it and perhaps either outfit could have edged it at any time. Wingers were not typically employed this term but use of flanks was often preferred to route one tactics. Having said that, Zamora was an asset via any style of play and could hold it up, assist, cross or go solo depending on the moment at hand. A free kick from Kuipers reached him and a perfect lob put Albion ahead. Town equalised when a defensive muddle presented 'em not only with possession but a goal scoring chance - oh dear!
Mid-table Robins held onto a point as in-form Albion went looking for a precious away win instead of another draw. Mind you 15 points to date on the road was a good return for the number of miles completed in round trips since August and only one loss.
Kuipers, Watson, Cullip, Morgan, Mayo, Pethick, Carpenter (Steele), Oatway, Jones, Hart, Zamora.
Div 2 (League 1) P 20 . W 11 D 7 L 2 . F 28 A 15 . Pt 43 Po 1