Wrexham - Home, Falmer Years:
no C'ship meetings from 2011 . '12 FA Cup.
ground: Racecourse Ground 10.7k . nickname: Red Dragons . shirt: red.
NL/EFL record from 11/12: 2 5 17 11 8 13 10 4 20 6 2 1 NL, 2 L2 @ 4/5/24.
promo: '23 NL, '24 L2
Season7 (H) onwards - not Prem.
Season1 (H) onwards - not C'ship.
Season1 (H) 7/1/12 FA Cup3 - 1-1 ~ Forster-Caskey
This was the very first FA Cup tie at the Amex and Albion drew leading Blue Square Prem outfit Wrexham, for initial 2012 opposition in Falmer. During the fairly recent past there had also been some other common interest when the Red Dragons had problems at their Racecourse Ground. Brighton fans attended there to support a Welsh equivalent of Fans United Day. Now our visitors had established a much better footing and went on a prolonged unbeaten sequence toward end of 2011. Meanwhile Albion were struggling with an injury crisis, plus bans to key players. Gus Poyet made six changes from his latest Championship line-up and filled the seventeen-man squad with kids from the development team. This group was under the schooling of coach Luke Williams, whose mission was to produce players for the first eleven - to fit seamlessly as and when required. On the day over 18k filled the Amex and 2k were travelling hordes from over the border.
*** match report: The whole Albion rearguard was different to the league, with two kids making debuts, two men coming back-in from injury/ban and the keeper in only his second start this campaign. Needless to say it took a while for things to gell but everybody got to the break without too many disasters. Gus had a word in the dressing room and it paid dividends immediately on turn around. LuaLua put in a telling centre and Forster-Caskey notched his second consecutive score in two apps - this time from close home (48min). Very soon afterwards LuaLua went off injured and Barnes was joined by fellow striker Agdestein in his first app (53m). Slightly over the hour mark Wrexham equalised from a deflected dig that flew over stranded Brez (62m). Poyet quickly double subbed for kid Kasim and rookie Rogers (63m). The dev squad huffed and puffed but red-shirts crowded behind the ball and the game was up for a replay. Gus wasn't unhappy, although he had plenty to worry about from a still depleted squad and signing possible additions to BHA at the January transfer window.
Brezovan, Calderon, Vincelot, Hall, Sampayo, Forster-Caskey, Navarro (Kasim), Sparrow, Buckley (Rogers), Barnes, LuaLua (Agdestein).
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Withdean Era: from 1999 to 2011.
Seasons 3 01/2, 5 03/4 - League One.
Withdean era: Albion V Robins 0-0, 2-0 . . . W = 1 D = 1 L = 0
memorable match: Season5 (H) - mid season at the theatre of trees when hard-core support did what they had to.
see: Seasons 3, 5 for club & stadium info. Also Peter Taylor & Mark McGhee.
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Wrexham - Away, Falmer Years:
No C'ship visits from 2011 . '12 FAC, season1.
Season1 (A) 18/1/12 FA Cup R3 replay - 1-1 aet ~ Barnes.
BHA win 5-4 on penalties to enter R4 draw.
Brighton were forced to go to Wales for this round3 replay after conceding fairly late at the Amex to the top Conference side. The tie was scheduled for 24hrs beforehand but got ruled out by frost. The old Racecourse Ground wasn't quite as packed as days of yore (capacity restricted by health & safety) although 8k plus sold the place out on the night. Perhaps Albion fans had a touch of sympathy for Red Dragons, considering what they'd been through in order to save the club from going down the pan all together. Anyway the pitch thawed out ok and a carnival atmosphere prevailed one winters night later. Gus Poyet selected a stronger line-up this time because he wanted to finish the job and entertain Newcastle at the Amex. Of course Wrexham also relished prospect of a R4 home tie.
*** match report: Wrexham took the lead slightly against run of play with a stunning strike by their player-manager (23min). Albion still ponced about but couldn't dent the red-shirted rearguard before h-t or even well into the second period. Poyet double subbed on 66mins and put two strikers on to go more like 424 from 433. Well, what had he got to lose? Barnes snatched a headed leveller (77min) off a post from good build-up into the area. Seagulls flapped thereafter and the home outfit took 'em beyond 90min to extra time. Wrexham might have snatched it at the death but the ball hit a post. Brezovan had been holding 'em at bay and then saved their first penalty in the subsequent shoot out. All five spot-kicks were converted by Albion - so we advanced to R4 more by luck than judgement. Was it the magic of the Cup or just some unlikely random event miles over the border?
Brezovan, Calderon, Hall, Dunk, Vincelot, Sparrow, Bridcutt, Navarro (Barnes), Buckley, Hoskins (Agdestein), Mackail-Smith.
Season1 onwards - not C'ship.
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Withdean Era: from 1999 to 2011.
Seasons 3 01/2, 5 03/4 - League One.
Withdean era: Robins V Albion 1-2, 0-2 . . . W = 2 D = 0 L = 0
Noughties last there -
memorable match: Season5 (A) 8/5/04 League One.
Second of two visits to the Racecourse Ground in early years this century. Was last game of the season prior to taking part in L1 play-offs.
see: Seasons 3, 5 for club & stadium info. Also Robert Eaton, Micky Adams and Mark McGhee.
note: the Robert Eaton memorial fund was established and still plays a fans eleven each year against Crystal Palace supporters - over 2 legs recently.
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