I was interviewed by Damion Johnson and it was filmed with the Tyne as a back drop! Enough blowing my own trumpet and on to my match report!
I digress again as one visit Liz had to do was to Roker Veterinary Practice. It used to be easy to find, but not any more. We drove around the area before coming across the housing development that has replaced Roker Park. The Roads are called Roker Road, Promotion Drive, Clock end road, still at least they have the Stadium of Light just along the road!
We stopped for sausage and chips on the seafront just down the road, made a quick visit to Durham and were still parked up about a 10 minute walk away from the Riverside stadium at 4pm.
We wandered towards the town centre and decided on the Hairy Lemon pub as they had the Blackburn UEFA cup match on a giant screen (although the picture was not all that good!).
Callum and Ben soon turned up, next we headed up to the Hogshead pub once Brush had turned up (working in Washington for the day) and met up with a few other Brighton lads and had a chat to a few friendly Middlesbrough boys as well.
Phil eventually turned up about 6.15 and we set about a few extra beers.
We left the pub about 7.30 and walked to the impressive new(ish) ground. We had to queue up to buy tickets before queuing up again to get in. Quite a few Middlesbrough fans must have missed Kick off as the home queues were a little bigger than for the away end!
We sat about half way back behind the goal (just behind Miles) and the 450/500 Albion fans made loads of noise, unlike the 10,000 Middlesbrough librarians who crammed mainly into one side and half an end. (all fans opposite the cameras of course, so when you see the match on TV you cant see the empty stands!)
As for the match, it was a good, tough, defensive display. Kuipers made 4 superb saves, 2 of them brilliant. Hinshelwood had another great game at right back and Butters/Cullip looked a solid, dependable central pairing.
Mayo had a tougher match and was beaten several times for pace, Coppel saw this and in the second half Harding replaced him, with Jones reverting back to left back. As for Middlesbrough, well they were poor in the respect of finishing and at times composure on the ball.
We had them rattled for long periods, by hard tackles, hassling players, blocking passes, basically every Brighton player put in 100% effort all night. The only problem was that we hardly worried them at the back at all. McPhee and Knight worked hard but it was very much the odd counter attack.
The winning goal was a great back heeled deflection from Christie. Still the players can hold their heads up high! We drove back to Newcastle and there were still a few FC Breda (I think that's what they are called) wondering the streets after a 5-0 hammering at St James Park.
I had a 6.50am flight back this morning and the airport was full of drunk Dutchmen, waiting for the Easyjet flight back to Amsterdam. They upset the security bag check by humming some stupid song and them all bursting out laughing (probably funny to them when very drunk!)
Right now to prepare for part 2 and Hartlepool on Saturday!
Mark R
Kuipers - 9 back to his best
Hinshelwood - 8 gets better and better
Mayo - 6 struggled at times
Cullip - 8 strong as ever
Butters - 8 the long run in the team showing as he picks up form
Carpenter - 7 had a lot to prove and got stuck in all over the midfield
Rodger - 7 good distribution, but looked in a lot of pain when stretchered off
Jones - 7 spent long periods helping out Mayo
Hart - 6 goof first 45 minutes, but as mentioned before cant last 90 minutes McPhee - 6 battled hard, but not a lot to show for all hard work
Knight - 6 as above
Subs
Pethick (for Rodger) - 6 got involved as much as any other player
Harding (for Mayo) - 7 showed some good skill and looks good for the future Robinson (for Hart)
This is from the Rivals Website
Brighton Fans
These lads and lasses where a credit to their club tonight and reminded me of what supporting your club is all about. They never stopped singing from the beginning to the end. Don't know how long it will take them to get home but a safe journey to all of them.
Good luck in the future.
--- Post edited by JoeLaidlaw on 24/9 23:20 ---
re: Brighton Fans
quite right joe.but it was only to be expected,i've done many a long journey on a night when we were in the old 3rd and the type of supporter that does that journey is there to enjoy themselves irrespective of the result.
re: Brighton Fans
Couldn't agree more, Joe. And was good to hear our PA person acknowledging them and to see the Boro fans clapping them at the end of the game too!
I have done that journey the other way round many years ago and I doubt they
will be home before 5am!
They are a credit to their club and I too wish them luck.
From Sporting Life
"The 300-strong travelling contingent of Albion fans, having made the five-and-a-half hour journey north, certainly deserved more reward than they got, if only for giving a near-deserted Riverside Stadium some sense of atmosphere in a crowd of only 10,435."
I digress again as one visit Liz had to do was to Roker Veterinary Practice. It used to be easy to find, but not any more. We drove around the area before coming across the housing development that has replaced Roker Park. The Roads are called Roker Road, Promotion Drive, Clock end road, still at least they have the Stadium of Light just along the road!
We stopped for sausage and chips on the seafront just down the road, made a quick visit to Durham and were still parked up about a 10 minute walk away from the Riverside stadium at 4pm.
We wandered towards the town centre and decided on the Hairy Lemon pub as they had the Blackburn UEFA cup match on a giant screen (although the picture was not all that good!).
Callum and Ben soon turned up, next we headed up to the Hogshead pub once Brush had turned up (working in Washington for the day) and met up with a few other Brighton lads and had a chat to a few friendly Middlesbrough boys as well.
Phil eventually turned up about 6.15 and we set about a few extra beers.
We left the pub about 7.30 and walked to the impressive new(ish) ground. We had to queue up to buy tickets before queuing up again to get in. Quite a few Middlesbrough fans must have missed Kick off as the home queues were a little bigger than for the away end!
We sat about half way back behind the goal (just behind Miles) and the 450/500 Albion fans made loads of noise, unlike the 10,000 Middlesbrough librarians who crammed mainly into one side and half an end. (all fans opposite the cameras of course, so when you see the match on TV you cant see the empty stands!)
As for the match, it was a good, tough, defensive display. Kuipers made 4 superb saves, 2 of them brilliant. Hinshelwood had another great game at right back and Butters/Cullip looked a solid, dependable central pairing.
Mayo had a tougher match and was beaten several times for pace, Coppel saw this and in the second half Harding replaced him, with Jones reverting back to left back. As for Middlesbrough, well they were poor in the respect of finishing and at times composure on the ball.
We had them rattled for long periods, by hard tackles, hassling players, blocking passes, basically every Brighton player put in 100% effort all night. The only problem was that we hardly worried them at the back at all. McPhee and Knight worked hard but it was very much the odd counter attack.
The winning goal was a great back heeled deflection from Christie. Still the players can hold their heads up high! We drove back to Newcastle and there were still a few FC Breda (I think that's what they are called) wondering the streets after a 5-0 hammering at St James Park.
I had a 6.50am flight back this morning and the airport was full of drunk Dutchmen, waiting for the Easyjet flight back to Amsterdam. They upset the security bag check by humming some stupid song and them all bursting out laughing (probably funny to them when very drunk!)
Right now to prepare for part 2 and Hartlepool on Saturday!
Mark R
Kuipers - 9 back to his best
Hinshelwood - 8 gets better and better
Mayo - 6 struggled at times
Cullip - 8 strong as ever
Butters - 8 the long run in the team showing as he picks up form
Carpenter - 7 had a lot to prove and got stuck in all over the midfield
Rodger - 7 good distribution, but looked in a lot of pain when stretchered off
Jones - 7 spent long periods helping out Mayo
Hart - 6 goof first 45 minutes, but as mentioned before cant last 90 minutes McPhee - 6 battled hard, but not a lot to show for all hard work
Knight - 6 as above
Subs
Pethick (for Rodger) - 6 got involved as much as any other player
Harding (for Mayo) - 7 showed some good skill and looks good for the future Robinson (for Hart)
This is from the Rivals Website
Brighton Fans
These lads and lasses where a credit to their club tonight and reminded me of what supporting your club is all about. They never stopped singing from the beginning to the end. Don't know how long it will take them to get home but a safe journey to all of them.
Good luck in the future.
--- Post edited by JoeLaidlaw on 24/9 23:20 ---
re: Brighton Fans
quite right joe.but it was only to be expected,i've done many a long journey on a night when we were in the old 3rd and the type of supporter that does that journey is there to enjoy themselves irrespective of the result.
re: Brighton Fans
Couldn't agree more, Joe. And was good to hear our PA person acknowledging them and to see the Boro fans clapping them at the end of the game too!
I have done that journey the other way round many years ago and I doubt they
will be home before 5am!
They are a credit to their club and I too wish them luck.
From Sporting Life
"The 300-strong travelling contingent of Albion fans, having made the five-and-a-half hour journey north, certainly deserved more reward than they got, if only for giving a near-deserted Riverside Stadium some sense of atmosphere in a crowd of only 10,435."