31 January 2011

SWEET SIXTEEN

Like nothing before, Saturday was an example of just how far we've come under Sir Gus. It was extraordinary to make it to the fifth round for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE. In fact, that last bit is not quite true - we last made the fifth round when I was under two years old, in February 1986, against Peterborough, and beat them in a replay to get to the sixth round where we lost away at Southampton. But being in the last 16 for the first time in my living memory means that Saturday will go down as one of the most exciting days in my Albion history. That excitement lasted all of 23 hours when the piss poor draw against Stoke smacked me in the face. It means, in all probability, we will almost definitely go out at this stage. Although, seeing as we are a better footballing side than them, then why not make the next round?

Ticketing (or lack of them) caused us a few problems on Saturday, but hanging around for replacement tickets meant that we saw Adam El-Abd in all his casual clothing wearing glory as he simply sauntered to the away end with what can only be described as his 'crew'. That merely wasn't the only highlight - Ashley Barnes' wonderstrike lit the atmosphere in the away end, but obviously it was the Jubilani's fault - or so suggests Watford's Adrian Mariappa in today's Times match report (the link is here but you'll need a password). It's always nice to get some national coverage, as long as it isn't on ITV who butchered our moment in the spotlight to well under a minute in their awfully produced FA Cup show on Saturday night. Another highlight was the (possibly mentally ill) Watford fan still abusing the Albion fans despite being alone, his side losing and being outplayed and the whole away stand laughing at him.

So then, whilst we continued to get excited about the possible FA Cup fifth round win and shooting on sight with the Jubilani ball at Stoke, it seems as if Bournemouth picked up three points to move within three of us in the league despite our two games in hand. Just a tidy little reminder of what we're really about this season, that Division Three title. Still, if we win at Stoke, and then twice more, and play one of the top teams in the final, we'll be in the UEFA Cup next season. Deluded? Probably. Division Three and FA Cup double? Doubtful. But, for once, we can dare to dream and some of us, it seems, already believe we'll have two trophies and a UEFA Cup qualifier to contend with for the first game at the new Withdean.

And we did all that without Elliott Bennett. So, if this page refreshed at some point today tells us EB has gone, we know we can cope without him. Quote of the day from Saturday comes from overhearing a Watford supporter: "If they (Brighton and Hove Albion) play like that in the Championship next season, they'll probably win the League."

Exactly.

1 comment:

Serviced Apartments Resident said...

Well done for making it to the fifth round! You must be so proud.