Seagulls shoot down Owls to reach the FA Cup Final
April 16th 1983 was one of the greatest days in Brighton & Hove Albion history. The sun shone, Highbury’s Clock End was a sea of blue, white and yellow, and Brighton beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 in the semi finals of the FA Cup to advance to their first and so far only appearance in a Wembley final.
For Seagulls fans, these were the best of times. The cloud of relegation should have been hanging heavy over the club as their top flight status slipped away with a whimper, but all the while Jimmy Melia was wearing his disco shoes and the Albion had dreams of the twin towers, the thought of a return to Division Two after four seasons didn’t seem to matter too much.
To say that Brighton’s run to the semi finals of the FA Cup was unexpected would be a slight understatement.
After the Albion had drawn 1-1 in the third round with lower division Newcastle United to force a Tuesday night replay at St James’ Park upon themselves, John Vinicombe wrote in The Argus that the Seagulls should concentrate on survival.
“There is little doubt to my mind as to which is the most important engagement from the long-term point of view. Retaining championship status is all-important, while the cup has so often proved a flight of fancy for Albion.”
It seems that even in the 1980s, league was beginning to take on more importance than the greatest cup competition in the world.
Vinicombe finished his piece by asking, “Can anyone seriously imagine them winning it, or even reaching the final?” No was probably the answer – the Albion had never gone beyond the fifth round before – and yet here Brighton were, one game from an FA Cup Final appearance with only Division Two Sheffield Wednesday in their way.
After winning their replay at Newcastle 1-0 through a goal from the on-loan Peter Ward, the Albion beat Manchester City 4-0 in round four, a result which caused City boss John Bond to resign.
In round five, Brighton were faced with the daunting prospect of a trip to Anfield. Liverpool were the reigning English champions and had not lost a home cup tie for nine years.
Gerry Ryan opened the scoring in front of the Kop on the half hour mark. When Craig Johnston equalised for the Reds with 20 minutes remaining, most were expecting it to be business as usual with an inevitable Liverpool winner soon to come.
Jimmy Case had other ideas though, shocking his former club with a trademark thunderbastard from 25 yards which deflected off Ronnie Whelan.
Phil Neal then put a penalty off target and you began to sense it just might be Brighton’s day. Wave upon wave of red attacks came to nothing and when referee Alf Grey blew his final whistle, the Albion had the most famous win in their history in the bag. Melia, himself a Scouser like match winner Case, soaked up the applause of a magnanimous Kop afterwards.
The quarter final was a little less exciting but certainly not without controversy. Norwich City came to the Goldstone and Case was again the hero, this time latching onto an Andy Ritchie through ball to beat Canaries goalkeeper Chris Wood.
As Case charged in on goal, the linesman began furiously waving his flag, which may have caused the Norwich defence to ease up expecting an offside decision to come their way.
In actual fact, the flagging had been for a foul on Case in the build up and referee Alan Robinson was playing the advantage. Norwich were furious, a goal they felt never should have stood eliminating them from the FA Cup and sending Brighton into the semi finals for the first time.
Melia had only officially been caretaker manager alongside George Aitken up until that victory over Norwich. The FA Cup run was enough to land Melia the gig on a full time basis with Aitken as his assistant, never mind the fact that the duo had overseen just two Division One wins in 14 games since Mike Bailey’s sacking at the start of December.
Cup fever was king and over 26,000 fans made the journey to Highbury via five charter trains and 113 coaches. When the Albion appeared on the pitch in their all yellow change strip, thousands of balloons were released from the packed terrace behind Graham Moseley’s goal. In terms of atmosphere, it remains one of the best that Brighton have ever played in.
The football was equally impressive. Wednesday were pushing for promotion and fancied their chances of accounting for top flight opponents, who were having a hideous struggle in the league.
Brighton had nothing to lose and felt this could be their year after shocking City, Liverpool and Norwich. Neither side showing any fear of defeat led to a brilliant attacking game, still considered one of the best FA Cup semi finals of all time.
Melia was without the injured Gerry Ryan, who had played up front in previous rounds of the FA Cup with regular forward Terry Connor cup tied.
Gordon Smith came into the attack in place of Ryan whilst Chris Ramsey’s suspension meant Graham Pearce was given a rare start at left back. Gary Stevens switched to centre half alongside captain Steve Foster, playing through the pain of a poisoned elbow.
Case had very much been the Brighton man throughout the FA Cup run and he opened the scoring inside of 15 minutes against Wednesday.
If you have paid any attention to the pre-game video shown at the Amex at some point over the past nine years, then you will have seen the goal – “SUPERB FROM JIMMY CASE” – a belting effort from 35 yards via a quickly taken short free kick which caught Wednesday goalkeeper Bob Bolder by surprise.
To be fair, even if Bolder had been prepared for what was coming he would have struggled to keep it out. Case’s effort crashed off the bar, causing an almighty surge on the Clock End. Case celebrated his fourth FA Cup goal in four games and Brighton led Wednesday 1-0.
The Albion dominated the remaining 30 minutes of the first half but could not add to the score. Whatever Wednesday manager Jack Charlton said to his players at half time had the desired impact as the Owls were much the better side in the second half, equalising on 57 minutes through Ante Mirocevic after an almighty goalmouth scramble.
Both sides went hunting for a winner and that led to a tremendously open last half hour. Brighton captain Foster was superb despite his gammy arm, repelling everything that Wednesday could throw at the Albion in a classic FA Cup tie which could have gone either way.
It was eventually decided in the 78th minute. Case – who else – started the move, playing in Smith for a one-on-one effort well saved by Bolder.
Smith reacted quickest, picking up the loose ball and diverting it towards Michael Robinson. The ever-reliable Robinson hit a well placed shot on the turn out of the reach of the three Wednesday defenders covering on the line and into the back of the net.
Wednesday threw everything they had at Brighton in the final 12 minutes with the Albion’s defending becoming increasingly desperate as they attempted to hold onto a spot in the FA Cup final which was so nearly theirs.
That they did so was largely thanks to Moseley. He pulled off an astonishing save late in the day from Mick Lyons, one which has every right to be considered one of the greatest stops ever made by a Brighton goalkeeper.
George Courtney blew the final whistle shortly after and Brighton had done it – Wednesday had been vanquished and a date with destiny in the FA Cup final was waiting.
Foster, Case and Robinson waved to the crowd as supporters spilled onto the pitch from the Clock End. Melia was giddy as a school girl at a One Direction concert, running to each of his players individually to exuberantly jump on them, his bald patch glistening in the sunshine.
Never before nor since has a Brighton manager been so excited. And with good reason of course. Brighton were into their first ever FA Cup Final, which would yield a first ever trip to Wembley to face the might of Manchester United.
Another brilliant day out was waiting for the Albion and thousands of football fans from Sussex. If only Smith had scored…
