Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Doncaster Rovers (2011)

Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Doncaster Rovers
Npower Championship
Saturday 6th August 2011

The opening day scenes inside the Amex Stadium (Photo: Unknown)

This was the first competitive game at the Amex Stadium and it was a cracker as a sell-out crowd saw controversy, excitement, tension and a dramatic injury-time winner.

Brighton's journey towards this landmark occasion began some 14 years earlier when they were evicted from their old Goldstone Ground and only avoided relegation from the Football League thanks to a 1-0 final day victory over Doncaster Rovers.

A two-year ground-sharing arrangement at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium (some 60 miles away) followed, before they moved back to Brighton - albeit to the somewhat ramshackle Withdean Stadium which was to be their home for the next 12 years as red tape, local politics and environmental issues elongated the process of building a new ground.

On the pitch, the previous campaign, 2010/11, saw Brighton romp to the League One title under Gus Poyet's stewardship, amassing just shy of 100 points, so they were very much an 'up and coming' force to be reckoned with who were expected to do well on their return Championship.

Doncaster's journey to success, meanwhile, had been just as eventful as the Seagulls' story.

Relegated to non-league with one of the worst ever records in 1998 amidst protests and scandals surrounding Ken Richardson's ownership, John Ryan's takeover signalled a change, though it took five years before a return to the Football League was sealed as Rovers beat Dagenham & Redbridge in the inaugural Conference Play-Off Final.

More success on the pitch followed and Belle Vue was replaced with the Keepmoat Stadium midway through the 2006/07 campaign, before the club then climbed into the Championship - famously defeating Leeds United at Wembley in the 2008 League One Play-Off Final. Despite an initial struggle, Sean O'Driscoll's team eventually got to grips with the second tier and 2011/12 would be their fourth successive season at this level.

A stadium worthy of waiting so long for (Photo: Unknown).

Unsurprisingly, given all the off-field issues which had dogged the two clubs' fortunes during roughly the same era in the late 1990s, there was a genuine bond between the two sets of supporters and nobody was displeased when the fixture computer, as if by magic, chose this game for the opening day of the new season!

Whilst there was a feverish sense of excitement amongst Brighton's supporters, Rovers fans were much more cautious as they'd seen their team struggle in the second part of 2010/11 - enduring a torrid run of just one win in 18 matches which meant they only just avoided relegation.

An injury crisis stretching back several months, which was still ongoing, meant several players missed this fixture. It hardly helped Rovers' fortunes, therefore Brighton were very much favourites to bag the three points.

The trip down to the South Coast was every bit as troublesome as anticipated. The M25 was navigated successfully, on the whole, but with less than an hour to go until kick-off, many who'd travelled on the Supporters' Buses were stuck in stationery traffic; there'd been an accident on the outskirts of Brighton and, even when it did get moving, it wasn't particularly fast.

Muggy temperatures didn't help the mood but, nevertheless, everyone arrived in time to soak up just a bit of the pre-match atmosphere. Rovers' fans were greeted by a sea of blue and white once they'd gone through the turnstiles and into the stands as Brighton's hierarchy had given away free flags to their own supporters to mark the event. In contrast, the away end wasn't full - one or two blocks seemed empty (a theory backed up after seeing TV footage afterwards) and there was space to jostle about, sit with your mates as opposed to strictly in an allocated seat, and make the experience more enjoyable.

The 'rich and famous' (or something like that) all turned out as well. Des Lynam was in attendance, Fatboy Slim might have been around somewhere, whilst the BBC selected this as their main game on the Football League Show with Dan Walker and Robbie Savage present.

At five to three, amidst a carnivalesque atmosphere with home fans waving their flags in a frenzy, a loud, rousing rendition of 'Sussex By The Sea' played out over the PA system as the two teams entered the pitch. This was the moment. This was the time. This was it; Brighton had their identity back and were performing in the outstanding stadium which they'd craved for so long.

All that was needed now was the home win to mark the event.

However, like any good party poopers, Rovers had other ideas and instead went within a whisker of bagging the opener when Billy Sharp blazed over from the edge of the six-yard box having done most of the hard work in getting onto James Coppinger's low cross.

It was always going to be a day of high passion (and even tension) so having Eddie Ilderton as referee probably wasn't the wisest decision that the Football League could have made. He was called into action for the first time when Tommy Spurr made a late challenge on a Brighton player, just infront of the dugouts, and received a warranted yellow card.

Gus Poyet though was displeased and the Uruguayan's fury intensified only a minute or so later when Kazenga Lua-Lua was bundled to the floor, just inside Rovers' penalty area. No penalty was forthcoming and, after some choice words and lots of gesticulating, Ilderton probably took great delight in strutting over to the touchline and sending Brighton's manager to the stand.

Poyet's mood wouldn't have been helped when he was told he was sitting too close to the pitch and ordered to move, or when Ashley Barnes breached Rovers' offside trap and found himself in a glorious position to score - beating Gary Woods with his low shot, only to see the ball hooked off the line George Friend who had scampered back in the nick of time.

Richard Naylor was then booked for another ill-timed tackle, despite pleas from a fervent home crowd who wanted a red card, but a massive spanner soon got thrown into the hosts' plans which threatened to ruin their afternoon completely, as Sharp scored the first competitive goal at the Amex Stadium.

Ryan Mason, on loan at Rovers from Tottenham, won possession in the centre circle and embarked on a driving run with his intended shot deflecting into Sharp's path and the talisman was able to squirm an effort past Casper Ankergren and over the line. It wasn't pretty, by any means, but it didn't matter - Rovers had a 1-0 lead at half-time, whilst Brighton had a hell of a lot of work to do!

Ankergren, part of the Leeds team beaten by Rovers in the League One Play-Off Final three years previously, copped for plenty of stick from the visiting fans who were now located directly behind him, as he took up position at the start of the second half; having a wry smile at some of the comments.

Though Brighton's players, fans and management alike had been upset by one or two incidents during the first 45 minutes, it was soon the turn of Rovers to be irate after Lewis Dunk's clumsy (and perhaps stupid) tackle from behind on Sharp, close to the hour mark, resulted in the frontman having to leave the pitch on a stretcher.

He missed the next two months but, in the 'here and now' of the game, it was a major turning point which swung the pendulum firmly in Brighton's favour.

Nevertheless, the Seagulls seemed intent on making life as difficult as possible for themselves with Craig Noone squandering a golden chance to level when he latched on to Barnes' clever flick on from Matt Sparrow's intricate through pass, only to put his shot wide when most people inside the stadium were just waiting for the net to ripple.

Where one substitute failed, another succeeded though as Will Buckley came off the bench and proved to be the opening day hero for Albion - emphatically slamming the ball home for an equaliser with less than 10 minutes to go, after Liam Bridcutt's free-kick into the area wasn't properly cleared away by the Rovers defence.

Unsurprisingly, the closing stages were action packed and full of drama, tension and excitement as Craig Mackail-Smith (at the time, Brighton's record signing for £2.5M) went close with an audacious volley that was well held by Woods, whilst James Hayter got injured up at the other end (and had to be stretchered off as well) as he scrambled to get onto the end of John Oster's corner. It meant there was a whole heap more of added time; 11 minutes to be precise, and also that Rovers had to play it out with just 10 men as they'd already made all their substitutions.

As nervous and agonising as it was for Rovers fans - desperately hoping they'd be able to cling onto a point, their Brighton counterparts raised the volume as they believed a winner was possible and it came in the most dramatic of circumstances as Noone fed Buckley during a dramatic breakaway attack, who finished with aplomb in the eighth minute of injury-time.

It was a goal which broke away fans hearts but sparked wild celebrations in the home end - the differing emotions couldn't have contrasted greater.

As Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' played out over the PA system at the final whistle, Rovers fans were pondering what might have been and what would be in the future - given the already-apparent injury crisis, which had now been further added to.

It proved to be a tumultuous campaign as Doncaster slumped to relegation amidst the type of controversy which hadn't been seen since the 1997/98 season as Willie McKay's notorious 'experiment' failed to pay dividends after Sean O'Driscoll was ridiculously sacked.

There are some fans who still despise Lewis Dunk for that challenge in this game - yes, it was poor, but he young, inexperienced at the time and it happens! It contributed to Rovers' relegation, along with many other things, but it certainly wasn't the root cause.

Brighton went on to claim an upper mid-table finish in 2011/12, just a few places off the play-offs, and it's come as no surprise that they've gone from strength to strength in the years since and turned from a 'sleeping giant' into an established Premier League team.

This game, however, will always live long in the memory for fans of both clubs!