(GROUND NUMBER 283)
Date of First Visit: 28th JANUARY 2012
AMEX STADIUM, FALMER
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1
NEWCASTLE UNITED 0
FA CUP 4th ROUND
ATTENDANCE: 21,558 (2,500 disillooosioned Toon fans!)
“WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN!?”
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| BEWARE!---WOR LASS'S ROLLIN' PIN!" |
It was the Chinese New Years celebrations the day after this game and wor lass’s mate had booked a table for four at a restaurant in China Toon on the Sunday afternoon, not far from St James’ Park and aa was under strict instructions to get back from Brighton for this—or else! (she threatened me with hor rollin’ pin if aa didn’t!)
This meant an owerneet stay in ‘The Smoke’ (London) waz oot of the question and az we couldn’t get a train back to The Toon on the Saturday neet because of the 5:15 bells kick off time, alternative travel arrangements had to be made by ‘jam jar’!
Four of us travelled doon to this one, namely ‘Tex Taylor’, ‘Norman the Cowboy Plumber’, ‘Fawlty Towers’, plus meesel of course! and we set off at the ungodly hour of ‘six thorty bells’ in ‘The Cowboy Plumbers’ ‘Merc’ for the 370 plus mile jorney to the Sussex countryside via the A1-M11-M25-M23 etc etc!.
The drive doon took us six and a half hours and we parked up at Lewes train station which iz the nearest ‘boozer friendly place’to the ground---which of course was built in the middle of ne where next to a village called Falmer! (which we thought was ‘pub-less!)
After a few ‘liquid refreshments’ in the three ‘drinkin dens’ up the hill from the station, which were aall ‘chocker’ with Toon and Brighton fans, it was time to heed back to the train station to catch the ‘cattle truck’ to Falmer which iz fower miles distant!
A’d asked a Brighton fan how much the retorn train fare to the ground waz and he just looked at me in amazement and said: “We don’t pay—WE NEVER HAVE DONE coz they havvent got enough train staff and they cannot cope with the number of fans who get on, so they don’t bother tryin’ to check tickets!”
He waz true to his word, az there were hundreds waalkin’ doon to the station and the TWO staff and ONE local ‘Dibble’ on duty were owerwhelmed by the volume of supporters crammin’ onto the platform az the train pulled in!
Aa say ‘cattle truck’ az we were aall piled in the carriages like sardines and it was like travellin’ on the ‘London Undergroond’ in the rush hour! (we couldn’t complain though—could we?---az we’d got on for ‘nixxy’!)
There waz aboot a 50-50 mix of both Toon fans and Brighton fans az the train set off on wot we were telt waz a seven minute jorney to the groond (ER!---it took TEN minutes, actually!)
On close up inspection aa waz very impressed with ‘The Seagulls’ new ‘nest’az it wasn’t the ‘tinny shed’ a’d expected for a club of their stature. The rather nice brickwork outside the stadium looked az though it had cost a ‘few bob’ to build.
Once inside, wide padded seats greeted us and it reminded me of ‘The Emirates’ seats at ‘The Arse’, the anly difference bein’ that these were blue instead of red. Toon fan ‘Big Al’ (no!—not THAT one!)telt us they they HAD foond a ‘waaterin hole’ some three hundred yards from the groond, so it waz in fact a ‘ONE boozer groond’!
The arched roofs reminded me of ‘The Reebok’ at (ne where near!) Bolton, but this waz a much better build and there waz plenty of room to increase the capacity from the 21,000 (or so) now, to ower 30,000, az amazingly they have a 6,000 waitin’ list for tickets! ( A Brighton fan who waz next to us with hiz Toon mates, telt us this!)
ANYWAY!---the teams ran oot to a packed crowd and aa couldn’t see an empty seat anywhere, so the “Empty seats!” chant couldn’t be used today by The Toon faithful!
It waz a dour forst half and we just couldn’t get wor act together with ‘Captain Shola’ leadin’ the line up front, with Leon Best just behind.
Brighton were even worse and aa carnt recaall one shot on target from them in the forst period, which not surpizingleee ended goal-less!
The second half wasn’t much better with wor ‘toothless’ strikeforce unable to break doon the home sides defence az we kicked towards wor fans in ‘The Sooth Stand’
Just az though it looked like the match waz peterin’ oot into a goal-less draw and a replay, tragedy stuck with just qwaata of an hour to gan, when the home side scored wot waz to be the anly and winnin’ goal of the game!
The goal came in the 75th minute when Danny Simpson pulled oot of a tackle to let Will Buckley race through to the box and his shot deflected off the unfortunate Mike Williamson and into the net past the stranded Tim Krul in The Toon goal, to knock us oot of the cup at an orly stage yet again!
Oh! How we needed the two ‘Dembas’ to fill wor strikers roles! (‘Ba’ and ‘Cisse’, were still on African Nations Cup duty)
After the match we had to queue for half an hour to catch the ‘free’ train back to Lewes, which iz a jorney the Brighton fans have to endure every home game and one that WE divvint want to de ever again!
(Lets hope they divvint win promotion this season!---Eh?)
We left Lewes at qwaata to nine, but we didn’t get yem til qwaata to four in the mornin’, mainly because ‘Norman the Cowboy Plumber’ missed the M25 torn off!
After gettin' back on the reet track and az we
approached the Dartford Crossin’ the sign telt us it was free to cross after ‘ten bells’ (we got there at 9:55 and had to pay the toll!)
To compound things the M11 waz shut az well!, so we had to divert forther aroond the M25, THEN! az we approached the A1 at Dishforth in north Yorkshire, that section of the road was aalso closed and so we ended up gannin’ up the ‘A19’ past Smogland and SMB country before gannin through the Tyne Tunnel and eventually gettin' yem just before four!
(a 725 mile roond trip!)
So this iz yet another ‘Disaster Days Story’ to add to the never endin’ ‘Disaster Days list’!
And YES!---aa didn't get hit with wor lass's rollin' pin---aa just got 'hit' with the bill from the 'Chinese' instead!
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| NOT! me and wor lass! |
(now 283 groonds visited---and coontin’!)
Fink (the mad-sad groundhopper!)
