The History of Brighton and Hove Albion v Manchester United

When you think of Brighton and Hove Albion v Manchester United, one game - or actually, two games - will instantly come to mind. The 1983 FA Cup Final.

Nobody gave Brighton a hope, especially without their captain Steve Foster. No team had ever been relegated from the top flight and won the FA Cup in the same season. Where it not for Gary Bailey's legs and Gordon Smith's shooting boots, the Albion might feasibly have entered the history books.

As it was, that first game in front of 100,000 at Wembley ended in a 2-2 draw. The replay five days later gave the country the result they had been expecting from the first game as United ran out comfortable 4-0 winners. Since then, they've won every trophy going to become the most successful English club of all time. We've played in all four divisions and had two seasons of home games in Gillingham. Funny old game.

Cup competitions have provided us with the most memorable moments against United down the years. We first met in the FA Cup of 1909 at United's former ground at Clayton Road, we faced off earlier in this seasons FA Cup Quarter Finals of course and there were three meetings in the 1992-93 season which went a long way to ensuring the Albion didn't go bankrupt.

Two of those took place at Old Trafford, in the FA Cup fourth round and League Cup second round second leg. The first leg of that tie saw a 1-1 draw at the Goldstone with Matthew Edwards getting the goal for Barry Lloyd's side.

Making his United debut that day as a substitute was a young kid who was welcomed to the game with a loud of rendition of "Who the f**king hell are you?" from the capacity Goldstone Ground crowd. David Beckham his name was. Wonder what ever happened to him?