Kuipers Supporters Club
Well-known member
Sunday was a day of rest (and I had a hangover) so the final two group games today. I’ll get Group H up later on.
The 8 last 16 games will be played Tuesday-Friday, before the QF, SF and Final a week Friday.
1-1 vs. Ipswich Town, 2004/05 The Championship
Sunday 8th May 2005, Att: 6,848
Another glorious day in the Withdean Sunshine. Albion went into the final match of the 2004/05 season with one solitary win to show from their previous ten games, meaning we were facing relegation unless a point could be secured against Ipswich.
To make matters worse the Tractor Boys still had automatic promotions in their sights. Squeaky bum time, you could say. After only four minutes, Albion player the Adam Virgo failed to intercept Jim Magilton's pass allowing Sheki Kuqi to advance and beat on loan Alan Blayney.
Virgs bounced back though to score the equaliser after Gary Hart's header had been blocked by Ipswich goalie Kelvin Davis.
And that's the way it stayed, Albion & Crewe staying up as Gillingham fell through the trap door along with Nottingham Forest and Rotherham . Had Ipswich scored at the end - and they were going for a winner - we would have gone down.
“We decided to call in a couple of favours and get some hospitality tickets, and at the time there was no guarantee there would be anything worth celebrating other than a wake. But we knew if, if, we pulled it off, it would be a great day.
It wasn't one of the finest games I've ever seen played, But it was one of the best battling displays against the odds. Or what round the players after taking pictures, and I remember Guy Butters coming out and giving me the sweetest bear hug I'd ever had!” (Roz South)
From the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4500729.stm
Championship final day drama
Ipswich missed out on automatic Premiership promotion after drawing with Brighton, which was enough to keep the Seagulls in the Championship.
Joe Royle's side had the perfect start when Shefki Kuqi put them ahead after just four minutes.
But their lead was quickly erased when Adam Virgo's turning volley brought Brighton back into the game.
Brighton: Blayney, El-Abd, Butters, Reid, Harding, Hart (McPhee 82), Oatway, Carpenter, Knight (Robinson 88), Hammond, Virgo.
Subs Not Used: Mayo, Nicolas, Shaaban.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxdei3I3hiY
2-1 vs. Halifax Town, 2000/01 Division Three
Saturday 2nd December 2000, Att: 6,995
The greatest goal scored by an Albion player at Withdean? (the other shout at the best being Marcel Cas for Notts County)
The ball had snow on it after Chris Wilder had sliced it for the visitors, no problem for Zamora, who waited for the ball to drop over his shoulder, before smashing in a left footed volley worthy of Marco Van Basten, past Lee Butler in the Shaymen’s goal.
Absolutely sensational.
From the BBC – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/1049522.stm
Bobby Zamora took his goal tally to 15 for the season with a goal in each half as promotion chasing Brighton clinched their fifth successive home win at struggling Halifax's expense.
The Shaymen started brightly and Gary Jones twice had efforts saved by Dutch keeper Michel Kuipers before Albion midfielder Nathan Jones smashed a 20 yard shot against the bar.
But it was Zamora who was to find the net first, Albion's most expensive signing for a decade at £100,000 from Bristol Rovers, firing his side ahead with a tremendous volley 10 minutes before the break.
And the striker was on target to double the advantage six minutes after the restart as he headed home a Paul Watson free-kick.
Cruising at 2-0, Brighton were forced to survive a late Halifax rally after Steve Kerrigan headed home 11 minutes from time but the home side held on for a vital three points.
Brighton and Hove Albion: Kuipers, Watson, Mayo, Cullip, Rogers, Hart, Oatway, Carpenter, Jones, Wicks, Zamora.
Subs: Crosby, Brooker, Steele, Ramsay, Melton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO9us4iR3tY&t=2m45s
4-0 vs. Blackpool, 2001/02 Division Two
Monday 27th August, 2001, Att: 6,696
The signs that Albion might again be onto something special as we demolished Blackpool on a gloriously sunny August bank holiday Monday.
Goals from Charlie, Chippy, Lee Steele and you guessed it, Bobby, put us on course for a brushing win against a side that had been promoted with us the previous season. A day like this, showed Withdean at its best
https://www.brightonfans.com/new/fatmanslim/history.php?team=Blackpool
In the match, Kuipers saved a penalty and then we battered them like whipped up waves on a windy weekend.
Charlie did a Maradona impression, Steeley finally headed off the transfer list with a contact worthy of his contract, Chippy opened his account and Bobby made it 4 from 5.
It was a great Bank Holiday Monday in the south, without even a beach in sight.
Lancashire Telegraph – https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6012361.pool-rocked-brighton/
Brighton gave a Blackpool a stark lesson in how to finish teams off to complete a miserable three days for Steve McMahon's men.
Blackpool were given the best opportunity to open the scoring when Brett Ormerod was felled in the box on three minutes.
But John Murphy's penalty was excellently saved by Brighton's Dutch keeper Michels Kuipers.
The whole game could have been so much different had Murphy scored as Brighton then went on to take the game by the scruff of the neck and crush the Seasiders with four excellent goals without reply.
The first came on 37 minutes, and what a goal it was from midfielder Charlie Oatway.
After skipping past two or three Blackpool challenges Oatway found space to coolly slot past Barnes for a wonderful individual opener.
Steve McMahon's half-time words of wisdom were immediately nullified as Brighton doubled their lead straight after the restart.
Richard Carpenter headed home from a cross from substitute Lee Steele on 47 minutes to put then two up and l5 minutes later it was 3-0 and game over.
Steele turned from provider to scorer with a fine header following a cross from Paul Booker.
But then came the main talking point of the match which saw Blackpool go down to 10 men.
Following treatment to a facial injury Lee Collins was ready to go back on the field and awaiting permission from the referee to rejoin his teammates.
But when Collins was not allowed on for several minutes, manager McMahon began to get annoyed.
Annoyance turned to sheer outrage when Ian Bullock was amazing sent off for arguing with referee while trying to persuade him to let Collins back on the pitch.
Steve McMahon joined Bullock in the changing rooms minutes later when the Blackpool manager was also sent off by the fourth official for his involvement in the argument.
Brighton's highly-rated striker Bobby Zamora compounded the Seasiders' misery and completed the rout with a fourth goal on 80 minutes.
2-2 vs. Nottingham Forest, Pre-Season Friendly 1999
Saturday July 24th 1999
It might not have been much, but Albion were back playing in Brighton again after two years away.
From the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/football/1999/jul/25/newsstory.sport1
Er... welcome home, Brighton
Kevin Mitchell checks out the real estate around the Withdean Stadium and finds Albion's new neighbours quite underwhelmed
The sun shone benignly on the South Coast and instructions to fans of Brighton and Hove Albion arriving at their new home yesterday for a friendly with Nottingham Forest, read like excerpts from Desiderata .
Use a sustainable mode of transport... like your feet, a bicycle, the bus or the train.
Do not drop litter.
Do not enter the nature reserve.
Do not use foul and abusive language.
Hand in your travel vouchers.
Go gently, then, to Withdean Stadium. You will not mistake it for Cold Blow Lane. It is a quiet, dog turd-free stroll from Preston Park Station. Steal ye not the azaleas. Of all the garden paths down which Brighton supporters have been led in recent years, this must be the most incongruous.
Here the hooligan and the double-glazing salesman are strangers. One can pick up an acceptable shack in Withdean Road, a few hundred yards from the ground, for £1million. Ditto, Tongdean Lane. Colebrook Road has a few left at three hundred thou. On Peacock Lane, on the London Road side of the tracks, prepare to shell out twice that. 'Residents only, no football parking' signs will blight the landscape only fortnightly. When the town went Labour in '97, Withdean went green around the gills.
Yesterday (having digested Blairism) they braced themselves for their new neighbours, homeless ne'er-do-wells who two years ago had the arse hanging out of their pants. Albion were football outcasts, spending 98-99 doing the 150-mile Gillingham round-trip for home games, disillusioned enthusiasts who must be an inspiration to the similarly beknighted romantics of Portsmouth, Luton, Chester, Crystal Palace, clubs who have also been ravaged by short-term opportunists.
Inside some of these lovely houses, it would be fair to guess, are one or two City adventurers whose sympathies are not wholly with the rabble nouveau. But doors remained resolutely shut. One gentleman out walking did try to send me the wrong way from the station, with the accompanying oath, 'You don't want any of that bloody football lot around here.' Too right, Colonel.
So, bunting did not drip from the gables for Brighton - even though they are championed by Des 'Res' Lynam.
Stan Hunt, who used to be manager and vice-chairman of Withdean FC, who share the ground and have been here 17 years, says, 'Oh yes, there were protests and petitions. They didn't want any part of it. Went to court a couple of times. But I think Brighton calmed them down in the end.'
Hence the leaflet, The Way To Withdean Stadium. Previous documents might have been 'The Way To Hell And Back', 'How To Find the Lancashire Hideaway of Bill Archer'.
Visions of the haunted Archer, whose stewardship was a cross between General Haig and Mister Magoo, haunt the memory of anyone who witnessed Brighton's recent woes.
The fans, tired and bewildered, will be resting here on the doorstep of middle-class respectability for a couple of years before they move to their promised high-tech stadium at Falmer. For their persistence and loyalty alone, they deserve respite.
At least Withdean qualifies as one of the prettiest settings in football, cupped by trees, the running track around the pitch no more than a distraction.
Yesterday the Brighton blow-ins had a few friends around for afternoon tea. About 6,000 of them, including some from Nottingham Forest. Micky Adams, Brighton's coach, had one game in charge of Forest and made a piquant statement by dropping all the foreigners and picking a load of kids. Forest lost 4-0.
But yesterday's big game was just a friendly. Adams wasn't fazed. Several of his 17 new signings are over six feet and he has not promised pretty football. Yesterday, Forest's new manager David Platt nicked an equaliser six minutes from the end, a tap-in from a cocked-up corner, but generally Albion held their own in a breezy 2-2 workout. Gary Hart headed their opener, Forest's Scimeca equalised and then Freeman, with his first touch after replacing Newhouse in the second half, hit Brighton's second. They looked muscular and well-organised and should hack their way up the Third Division this season.
Extra 'fans' were watching from the pub - that's the pub near the tennis courts. Not far from the nature reserve. Crazy place. Brighton need all the friends they can get. Peter Ward came home for the day. Sponsored by Skint Records (brightest star, Fat Boy Slim, aka Norman Cook, fanatical Albion supporter), Albion have also enlisted a clutch of media folk, three of whom contributed to the special magazine We're Back!
Why stop there? Get on the phone to Norman Wisdom, a former director here. And Julie Burchill, who lives in these parts. Now there's a cat who'll set the fur flying in Tongdean Lane.
Image from We Are Brighton, courtesy of Mark Raven
The 8 last 16 games will be played Tuesday-Friday, before the QF, SF and Final a week Friday.
1-1 vs. Ipswich Town, 2004/05 The Championship
Sunday 8th May 2005, Att: 6,848
Another glorious day in the Withdean Sunshine. Albion went into the final match of the 2004/05 season with one solitary win to show from their previous ten games, meaning we were facing relegation unless a point could be secured against Ipswich.
To make matters worse the Tractor Boys still had automatic promotions in their sights. Squeaky bum time, you could say. After only four minutes, Albion player the Adam Virgo failed to intercept Jim Magilton's pass allowing Sheki Kuqi to advance and beat on loan Alan Blayney.
Virgs bounced back though to score the equaliser after Gary Hart's header had been blocked by Ipswich goalie Kelvin Davis.
And that's the way it stayed, Albion & Crewe staying up as Gillingham fell through the trap door along with Nottingham Forest and Rotherham . Had Ipswich scored at the end - and they were going for a winner - we would have gone down.
“We decided to call in a couple of favours and get some hospitality tickets, and at the time there was no guarantee there would be anything worth celebrating other than a wake. But we knew if, if, we pulled it off, it would be a great day.
It wasn't one of the finest games I've ever seen played, But it was one of the best battling displays against the odds. Or what round the players after taking pictures, and I remember Guy Butters coming out and giving me the sweetest bear hug I'd ever had!” (Roz South)
From the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4500729.stm
Championship final day drama
Ipswich missed out on automatic Premiership promotion after drawing with Brighton, which was enough to keep the Seagulls in the Championship.
Joe Royle's side had the perfect start when Shefki Kuqi put them ahead after just four minutes.
But their lead was quickly erased when Adam Virgo's turning volley brought Brighton back into the game.
Brighton: Blayney, El-Abd, Butters, Reid, Harding, Hart (McPhee 82), Oatway, Carpenter, Knight (Robinson 88), Hammond, Virgo.
Subs Not Used: Mayo, Nicolas, Shaaban.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxdei3I3hiY
2-1 vs. Halifax Town, 2000/01 Division Three
Saturday 2nd December 2000, Att: 6,995
The greatest goal scored by an Albion player at Withdean? (the other shout at the best being Marcel Cas for Notts County)
The ball had snow on it after Chris Wilder had sliced it for the visitors, no problem for Zamora, who waited for the ball to drop over his shoulder, before smashing in a left footed volley worthy of Marco Van Basten, past Lee Butler in the Shaymen’s goal.
Absolutely sensational.
From the BBC – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_3/1049522.stm
Bobby Zamora took his goal tally to 15 for the season with a goal in each half as promotion chasing Brighton clinched their fifth successive home win at struggling Halifax's expense.
The Shaymen started brightly and Gary Jones twice had efforts saved by Dutch keeper Michel Kuipers before Albion midfielder Nathan Jones smashed a 20 yard shot against the bar.
But it was Zamora who was to find the net first, Albion's most expensive signing for a decade at £100,000 from Bristol Rovers, firing his side ahead with a tremendous volley 10 minutes before the break.
And the striker was on target to double the advantage six minutes after the restart as he headed home a Paul Watson free-kick.
Cruising at 2-0, Brighton were forced to survive a late Halifax rally after Steve Kerrigan headed home 11 minutes from time but the home side held on for a vital three points.
Brighton and Hove Albion: Kuipers, Watson, Mayo, Cullip, Rogers, Hart, Oatway, Carpenter, Jones, Wicks, Zamora.
Subs: Crosby, Brooker, Steele, Ramsay, Melton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO9us4iR3tY&t=2m45s
4-0 vs. Blackpool, 2001/02 Division Two
Monday 27th August, 2001, Att: 6,696
The signs that Albion might again be onto something special as we demolished Blackpool on a gloriously sunny August bank holiday Monday.
Goals from Charlie, Chippy, Lee Steele and you guessed it, Bobby, put us on course for a brushing win against a side that had been promoted with us the previous season. A day like this, showed Withdean at its best
https://www.brightonfans.com/new/fatmanslim/history.php?team=Blackpool
In the match, Kuipers saved a penalty and then we battered them like whipped up waves on a windy weekend.
Charlie did a Maradona impression, Steeley finally headed off the transfer list with a contact worthy of his contract, Chippy opened his account and Bobby made it 4 from 5.
It was a great Bank Holiday Monday in the south, without even a beach in sight.
Lancashire Telegraph – https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6012361.pool-rocked-brighton/
Brighton gave a Blackpool a stark lesson in how to finish teams off to complete a miserable three days for Steve McMahon's men.
Blackpool were given the best opportunity to open the scoring when Brett Ormerod was felled in the box on three minutes.
But John Murphy's penalty was excellently saved by Brighton's Dutch keeper Michels Kuipers.
The whole game could have been so much different had Murphy scored as Brighton then went on to take the game by the scruff of the neck and crush the Seasiders with four excellent goals without reply.
The first came on 37 minutes, and what a goal it was from midfielder Charlie Oatway.
After skipping past two or three Blackpool challenges Oatway found space to coolly slot past Barnes for a wonderful individual opener.
Steve McMahon's half-time words of wisdom were immediately nullified as Brighton doubled their lead straight after the restart.
Richard Carpenter headed home from a cross from substitute Lee Steele on 47 minutes to put then two up and l5 minutes later it was 3-0 and game over.
Steele turned from provider to scorer with a fine header following a cross from Paul Booker.
But then came the main talking point of the match which saw Blackpool go down to 10 men.
Following treatment to a facial injury Lee Collins was ready to go back on the field and awaiting permission from the referee to rejoin his teammates.
But when Collins was not allowed on for several minutes, manager McMahon began to get annoyed.
Annoyance turned to sheer outrage when Ian Bullock was amazing sent off for arguing with referee while trying to persuade him to let Collins back on the pitch.
Steve McMahon joined Bullock in the changing rooms minutes later when the Blackpool manager was also sent off by the fourth official for his involvement in the argument.
Brighton's highly-rated striker Bobby Zamora compounded the Seasiders' misery and completed the rout with a fourth goal on 80 minutes.
2-2 vs. Nottingham Forest, Pre-Season Friendly 1999
Saturday July 24th 1999
It might not have been much, but Albion were back playing in Brighton again after two years away.
From the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/football/1999/jul/25/newsstory.sport1
Er... welcome home, Brighton
Kevin Mitchell checks out the real estate around the Withdean Stadium and finds Albion's new neighbours quite underwhelmed
The sun shone benignly on the South Coast and instructions to fans of Brighton and Hove Albion arriving at their new home yesterday for a friendly with Nottingham Forest, read like excerpts from Desiderata .
Use a sustainable mode of transport... like your feet, a bicycle, the bus or the train.
Do not drop litter.
Do not enter the nature reserve.
Do not use foul and abusive language.
Hand in your travel vouchers.
Go gently, then, to Withdean Stadium. You will not mistake it for Cold Blow Lane. It is a quiet, dog turd-free stroll from Preston Park Station. Steal ye not the azaleas. Of all the garden paths down which Brighton supporters have been led in recent years, this must be the most incongruous.
Here the hooligan and the double-glazing salesman are strangers. One can pick up an acceptable shack in Withdean Road, a few hundred yards from the ground, for £1million. Ditto, Tongdean Lane. Colebrook Road has a few left at three hundred thou. On Peacock Lane, on the London Road side of the tracks, prepare to shell out twice that. 'Residents only, no football parking' signs will blight the landscape only fortnightly. When the town went Labour in '97, Withdean went green around the gills.
Yesterday (having digested Blairism) they braced themselves for their new neighbours, homeless ne'er-do-wells who two years ago had the arse hanging out of their pants. Albion were football outcasts, spending 98-99 doing the 150-mile Gillingham round-trip for home games, disillusioned enthusiasts who must be an inspiration to the similarly beknighted romantics of Portsmouth, Luton, Chester, Crystal Palace, clubs who have also been ravaged by short-term opportunists.
Inside some of these lovely houses, it would be fair to guess, are one or two City adventurers whose sympathies are not wholly with the rabble nouveau. But doors remained resolutely shut. One gentleman out walking did try to send me the wrong way from the station, with the accompanying oath, 'You don't want any of that bloody football lot around here.' Too right, Colonel.
So, bunting did not drip from the gables for Brighton - even though they are championed by Des 'Res' Lynam.
Stan Hunt, who used to be manager and vice-chairman of Withdean FC, who share the ground and have been here 17 years, says, 'Oh yes, there were protests and petitions. They didn't want any part of it. Went to court a couple of times. But I think Brighton calmed them down in the end.'
Hence the leaflet, The Way To Withdean Stadium. Previous documents might have been 'The Way To Hell And Back', 'How To Find the Lancashire Hideaway of Bill Archer'.
Visions of the haunted Archer, whose stewardship was a cross between General Haig and Mister Magoo, haunt the memory of anyone who witnessed Brighton's recent woes.
The fans, tired and bewildered, will be resting here on the doorstep of middle-class respectability for a couple of years before they move to their promised high-tech stadium at Falmer. For their persistence and loyalty alone, they deserve respite.
At least Withdean qualifies as one of the prettiest settings in football, cupped by trees, the running track around the pitch no more than a distraction.
Yesterday the Brighton blow-ins had a few friends around for afternoon tea. About 6,000 of them, including some from Nottingham Forest. Micky Adams, Brighton's coach, had one game in charge of Forest and made a piquant statement by dropping all the foreigners and picking a load of kids. Forest lost 4-0.
But yesterday's big game was just a friendly. Adams wasn't fazed. Several of his 17 new signings are over six feet and he has not promised pretty football. Yesterday, Forest's new manager David Platt nicked an equaliser six minutes from the end, a tap-in from a cocked-up corner, but generally Albion held their own in a breezy 2-2 workout. Gary Hart headed their opener, Forest's Scimeca equalised and then Freeman, with his first touch after replacing Newhouse in the second half, hit Brighton's second. They looked muscular and well-organised and should hack their way up the Third Division this season.
Extra 'fans' were watching from the pub - that's the pub near the tennis courts. Not far from the nature reserve. Crazy place. Brighton need all the friends they can get. Peter Ward came home for the day. Sponsored by Skint Records (brightest star, Fat Boy Slim, aka Norman Cook, fanatical Albion supporter), Albion have also enlisted a clutch of media folk, three of whom contributed to the special magazine We're Back!
Why stop there? Get on the phone to Norman Wisdom, a former director here. And Julie Burchill, who lives in these parts. Now there's a cat who'll set the fur flying in Tongdean Lane.
Image from We Are Brighton, courtesy of Mark Raven
