Grimsby - home, Falmer Years:
No meetings from 2011 - 2022. '23 FA Cup.

Ground: Blundell Park 9k . Nickname: Mariners . Shirt: black & white stripes.
League TWO record from 11/12 to 23/24: (11, 4, 4, 3, 4 Conf), 14, 18, 17, 13 24, (6 nat lg), 11 @ 8/5/23.
recent promo - '16, '22 NL . rel - '21 L2.

Season12 (H) FA Cup q-f Sun 19/3/23 - w 5-0 ~ Undav, Ferguson 2, March, Mitoma
This tie was played on a Sunday lunchtime at the quarter final stage, of which Albion were one of 4 Prem clubs left in the Cup. Brighton were ball 3 in the bowl for randomly selecting those last eight teams into pairings and were drawn at home to host ball 1 - League Two Grimsby Town. And so a throwback to our past produced a tie with one-time lower league opponents. Mariners had just knocked Prem bottom-feeders Saints out of the Cup with a record-breaking giant-killing FA shock 1-2 away victory at St Mary's stadium. Could lightning strike twice? Brighton fans of a certain vintage could remember our initial venture into the Championship at Withdean's theatre of trees, which had come off the back of two consecutive promotions during those early noughties. Pride had pre-fixed a fall and Grimsby were part of our history from these formative EFL seasons - see Withdean Era tab for previous encounters. Since then our paths went separate ways and for two decades never the twain shall meet... until now. The footy world turns and twenty years later things were very different for hosts - a sleeping giant that finally woke and with further fans loyal support now stands tall at Falmer. On the day RdZ fielded a very strong side with a pukka Prem-squad bench to boot. De Zerbi sat in the stand having been banned from the technical area due to receiving recent yellow cards.
*** match report: Albion scored 5 by the very end to go into a semi-final with Man Utd at Wembley. Undav grabbed the opener when reacting first to a rebound off the keeper (7mins). Then things went quiet for a while as Mariners tried to stay in the game with mass defending. After the intermission Ferguson got an impressive double. First finding the net from a Mac A pass (51mins). Then smashing in a shot when Undav put him on (70mins). March dived to head in Webster's cross for a fourth (82mins). And Mitoma bagged a fifth via a deflection off a hapless defender (90mins). De Zerbi was happy sitting up in the stand coz high-flying Seagulls had scored 9 for the last two times he'd been banished upstairs. RdZ said, 'our ambition must be to try and write the new history of our club.' Talking about Ferguson he said, 'I am working to improve him. Also in understanding the game to complete the player.' Brighton fans looked forwards to visiting Wembley again and maybe a follow-on visit if the gods of football were kind to us this time.
weather: cloudy . gate: 29,415 (away 4621) . MoM: Ferguson - great strikes
stats: ht 1-0, goals 7,51,70,82,90, poss 72%-27%, on target 10-2, off target 12-2, corners 6-2, fouls 4-4, yellows 0-0, subs 5-5, shape 4231-541
team: 1 Sanchez 13 Gross 4 Webster 5 Dunk 20 Estupinan 7 March 10 Mac Allister 25 Caicedo 22 Mitoma 21 Undav 28 Ferguson
subs: 6 Colwill 45 (30), 19 Sarmiento 71 (21), 18 Welbeck 71 (28), 26 Ayari 78 (10), 29 van Hecke 78 (5)
bench: 23 Steele (gk 20 Enciso 34 Veltman 40 Buonanotte
injured: 2 Lamptey 14 Lallana . squad: 15 Moder 27 Gilmour 49 Moran

Season1 onwards not C'ship/Prem.

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See Withdean Era (1999 - 2011) and Clubs scroll in Archive:
Season4 02/3 - Championship . Season5 03/4 - League One.

Withdean era: Albion V Mariners 1-2, 3-0 . . . W = 1 D = 0 L = 1
memorable match: Season4 (H) - a learning curve for locals now at higher grade.

see: Seasons 4, 5 for club & stadium info. Also Martin Hinshelwood & Steve Coppell.

Grimsby - away, Falmer Years:
No visits from 2011.

Season1 onwards not C'ship.

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Withdean era: Season4 02/3 - Championship . Season5 03/4 - League One.

Withdean era: Mariners V Albion 2-2*, 2-1 . . . W = 0 D = 1 L = 1

Noughties last there - 14/2/04 (A) League One.
Our second and final trip to Blundell Park, as both clubs went separate ways this decade.
memorable match: Season4 (A) 4/5/03 Championship.
* A last day, last gasp battle to survive and hope other results went our way.

see: Seasons 4, 5 for club & stadium info. Also Steve Coppell & Mark McGhee.