The Story Of The Blues 2013/14: Up The Junction

Brighton v ITFC 22nd March 2014

Max's cheeky attempt to get rid of our spare ticket.
In the end Sharon took it back to the ticket office for a refund.
Oh well nice try!

It was back to all things blue & white after a brief flirtation with Borussia Dortmund and the German Bundesliga last weekend - there has to be a good reason to give up my season ticket and miss a game at Portman Road! Never mind l missed a 3-1 loss to Wigan.

The trip south had a detour through London to Clapham, where we dropped Sharon off just after 9am. She had arranged a shop meeting to coincide with our trip. Her plan was to catch a train from Clapham Junction to Brighton at 12pm.

Included in our £30 match ticket price was free train and bus travel within a large radius of Brighton, so we took full advantage of this and parked the car at Haywards Heath, about fourteen miles north of Brighton. We then caught a train the rest of the way, alleviating the hassle of driving in and out of Brighton, which from experience is always painful.

Walking out of Brighton railway station I imagined being in Grahame Greene’s 1938 novel 'Brighton Rock' (the only book that I can remember reading at school - no tell a lie I did read ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’). Today instead of looking for 'Kolley Kibber' and receiving ten shillings from the ‘Messenger’ we were looking for 'Burger Off' in Hove, which was a twenty minute walk away.

Recommended by one of Max's workmates, who once lived nearby, they apparently make the best burgers in Sussex including a speciality spicy one. Apparently it's so hot that customers have to sign a legal disclaimer saying they will not sue the owner Nick, before they can take their first bite!

Doesn't look much from the outside but the burgers are meant to be excellent, perhaps next season we'll try them out!

Bad news

On arrival we found that it was closed due to the owners stag do - what a bummer. Oops I shouldn't say that in a blog about Brighton!

Disappointed and hungry, we used our free transport option and got a bus back to the station where we found a pub and had a couple of beers whilst watching the start of Arsene Wenger's 1000th game in charge of Arsenal, a vital match versus Jose Mourinho's Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It was 3-0 to Chelsea when we left the pub to catch a train to Falmer and the Amex Stadium. By the time we were inside the ground Arsenal had lost 6-0. Poor old Arsene!

Back at the station

Bad habits

Sharon caught her train from Clapham Common and met us by our seats. She had been waiting for us outside the ground, ringing me several times, before giving up! For some reason I hadn't heard my phone or felt it vibrate in my pocket, oh dear!

Brighton had their largest gate of the season 29,093 which included 1,784 town fans. Like us they still have a chance of making the playoffs, so it was a big game for both of us.

Being the home side the onus was on the Seagulls to attack and although they looked quite lively they lacked that bit of magic. Town had the ball in the net midway through the first half, Jonny Williams the Crystal Palace loanee was ruled offside when he chased in a loose ball.

How nice it is to be wrong, at half time I predicted a 0-0 draw, which would have been a decent result.

An hour of the game had gone and Brighton were still trying to find a way through the resilient Town defence with no joy. We then got a corner, from a rare attack which Stephen Hunt took, he sent the ball to the far post where Daryl Murphy headed it back across the goal, Tommy Smith then nipped in and headed the ball past one time Town target Tomasz Kuszczak in the Albion goal.

There was ten minutes remaining when Williams, with a subliminal piece of skill got past Will Buckley on the by-line and sent a deft cross the towards the near post, Murphy looped the ball over Kuszczak with his head and into the far corner of the net.

It's a great feeling, that seize mentality of being in the away end of a packed ground, your team scores in front of you and whilst you're celebrating the away win, the home fans head for the exits - brilliant.

Williams who had got loads of stick from the home fans, particularly enjoyed the moment and milked the applause when he was substituted shortly after.

That's now four games in a row since I've seen Town concede a goal, must be some kind of record for me.