Bristol Rovers - home, Falmer Years:
no meetings from 2011.

ground: Memorial Stad 12k . nickname: Pirates . shirt: blue & white quarters.

NL/EFL record from 11/12: 13 14 23 L2, 2 NL, 3 L2, 10 13 15 15 24 L1, 3 L2, 17 15 L1 @ 4/5/24.
recent promo - '16 '22 L2, '15 conf . rel - '21 L1, '14 L2.

Season7 (H) onwards - not Premier League.
Season1 (H) onwards - not C'ship

* * * * *

See Withdean Era (1999 - 2011) and Clubs scroll in Archive:
Seasons 9-12 07/8-10/11 - League One.
Season6 24/8/04 (H) - League Cup R1.

Withdean era: Albion V Pirates 0-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2 . . . W = 1 D = 3 L = 0
1-2 EFL Cup.
memorable match: Season12 (H) - the future looked brighter in this last term at Withdean.

see: Seasons 9-12 for club, squads & stadium info in League One.

Bristol Rovers - away, Falmer Years:
no C'ship visits from 2011 . '19 EFL Cup.

Season9 (A) onwards - not C'ship or Premier League.

Season9 (A) Tue 27/8/19 EFL Cup 2nd rnd - w 1-2 ~ Connolly, Murray
Albion were drawn to travel into the west country, on an annual August evening, for the first cup-tie of a new Prem season. We'd last been aboard Pirates way up the Bristol Channel for a knockout round one League Cup encounter in 2003. Coincidentally the following year, we hosted fellow lower division Rovers at Withdean in round two. Each club had sailed different courses since 2012, at one stage positioned four leagues apart. It was slightly closer now, Rovers latterly being a League One crew. So recent BHA head coach Graham Potter was anticipated to field a second eleven for this early round, which would further add to his understanding of exactly where we were, or conversely whether still all at sea. The question was, how much latitude would he allow?
*** match report: It was a far from easy victory that saw Albion into the third round. The first half was all huff & puff against a side who dug in. When the ball did hit the net it was chalked off for offsides. The second period was a lot livelier and Connolly was sharp to force home a deflected drive from Jahanbakhsh (55 min). But Pirates hit back as they upped the ante and made changes to snatch an equaliser. With a penalty shoot-out looming and the clock ticking in stoppage, Murray tapped in from a useful run and assist from Alzate (92 min). We know these knockouts are decided by the number of goals scored by each team, so Brighton fans were just grateful it didn't go to pens. Rovers keeper had played a blinder to keep BHA at bay, so we could only speculate on what might have happened beyond 90 mins. Thankfully at end of the day Murray did what he does, which is score vital goals - QED. Anything else is unthinkable.
Stats: shape 352-343, ht 0-0, goals 64-55,92, poss 32%-68%, on target 2-8, off target 1-10, corners 3-15, fouls 10-15, yellows 0-1, subs 3-0. MoM - Connolly & Alzate. Gate 5894, away 938.
27 Button, 14 Bernardo, 15 Webster, 3 Bong, 46 Alzate, 13 Gross, 18 Mooy, 30 Bernardo, 16 Jahanbakhsh, 44 Connolly, 17 Murray. Subs - 23 Steele, 28 Baluta, 50 Cochrane, 51 A Davies, 58 Roberts, 39 Ahannach, 41 Sanders.

Falmer years: from 2011 to 2019
Seasons 1-8 (A) - no visits.
* * * * *

Withdean Era: 12 seasons from 1999 to 2011 -
Seasons 9-12 07/8-10/11 - League One.
Season5 12/8/03 (A) - League Cup R1.

Withdean era: Pirates V Albion 0-2, *1-2, 1-1, 2-4 . . . W = 3 D = 1 L = 0
0-1 EFL Cup.
memorable match: Season9 (A) - we'd got to end of the season, just missed p-os but hey, the sun was out.

Noughties last there: 5/2/11 (A) League One.
Our last enjoyable trip to Horfield, prior to getting out of L1 and moving to Falmer.
* rescheduled after original fixture abandoned just before k-o, due to rainstorm on waterlogged pitch.
12/8/03 EFL Cup
Victory took us into R2, following our first visit to the Memorial Stadium this decade.

see: Seasons 9-12 for club, squads & stadium info in League One.