Brighton to face Millllllllllllllllll in FA Cup quarter final
Millwall will be Brighton and Hove Albion’s opponents in the last eight of the FA Cup with the Seagulls set to travel to the Den to face the Championship outfit.
The winners of the tie, to be played at some point over the weekend of 15th to the 18th March, will progress to the semi final at Wembley. Brighton have only ever reached that stage of the competition once before, when they went onto lose in the final to Manchester United in 1983.
In many respects, a trip to Millllllllllllllll is the ideal draw for the Albion. It’s certainly a winnable game against a side hovering above the Championship relegation places, although a packed and raucous Den is probably the most intimidating stadium in the country, as Everton found out to their cost in the fourth round.
It’s only an hour away on the train which means no repeat of the travel debacle that was last season’s quarter final defeat away at Manchester United which involved trying to get home from Old Trafford from a game that finished at 9.30pm on a Saturday evening.
Milllllllllllllllllll is also one of the better away days in the country, despite it’s reputation. You can drink in the London Bridge area, catch the train down to South Bermondsey and be in the away end within five minutes of alighting. The Den has been the scene of some memorable trips during our frequent meetings in League One and the Championship across the last 20 years or so, including Ryan Harley taking the worst penalty in football history and former television salesman Dean White overseeing a Football League win when in caretaker charge of the Albion.
Those factors should make it an in-demand game for Seagulls supporters. Everton received an allocation of 2,200 on the advice of the Metropolitan Police who restricted the capacity of the Den that day to 17,800 for fear of trouble. Should they allow Millllllllllllllllllll to open the entire ground for this one, then 15% of the 20,146 that it holds would entitle the Albion to around 3,000 tickets, which would presumably be both tiers of the North Stand behind the goal.
Brighton last faced the Lions in the 2014-15 season, a 0-0 bore draw up in London in March 2015 which followed Milllllllllllllllllll’s 1-0 win at the Amex the previous December. That defeat led to open mutiny on the terraces and one of the most febrile atmospheres the stadium has experienced as calls for Sami Hyypia to be sacked intensified.
The last time that the Albion and Millllllllllllllll met in a knockout competition came in the Paint Pot Southern Section Quarter Final at the Den in November 2006. The game ended 1-1 thanks to Jake Robinson’s 88th minute equaliser with Brighton going onto win the subsequent shoot out, Wayne Henderson saving one home spot kick and Kerry Mayo of all people netting the winning penalty.
Over 900 supporters made the trek to London that night, a remarkable turnout for a competition that ranks just between the Colchester Bridge Tournament and the Shropshire David Dimbleby Look-a-Like Contest in terms of importance. Again, it goes to show what a good trip Millllllllllllllll is.
The only season in which we’ve previously crossed swords in the FA Cup was at the fist round stage in 1956-57, when Millllllllllllll triumped 3-1 in a replay at the original Den after a 1-1 Goldstone Ground draw. Brighton will be hoping for better this time around with a day out at Wembley up for grabs.
