The dimunutive Darlington striker who kept a clean sheet v Brighton

Carl Shutt did quite a lot in his career. He scored 103 goals for eight different clubs and was crowned an English champion with The Leeds United in 1992. He also kept a clean sheet when playing in goal for Darlington in a 0-0 draw with Brighton at the Priestfield Stadium on September 13th 1997.

The Gillingham Years were packed with spectacularly shit moments from an Albion point of view. There was the midweek defeat to Barnet on November 5th when the few hundred Seagulls supporters stood on the Rainham End took to watching fireworks in the distance instead of the football.

A run of 12 home games without a win which cost the hero of the 1996-97 Great Escape Steve Gritt his job. Watching players like Michael Mahoney-Johnson and Damian Hilton and thinking it might be time to do something more enjoyable with a Saturday afternoon, like undergo colonic irrigation.

And then there was Darlington. Good old Darlo were responsible for two of the worst afternoons at the Priestfield. The Carl Shutt clean sheet game which we are about to relive.

It was followed 18 months later by Darlington beating Brighton 4-0 with Marco Gabbiadini scoring a hat-trick. The result was bad, obviously.

Even worse was that the Albion had laid on free buses and match tickets to transport around a thousand Sussex school kids to Gillingham for the game.

The aim of the day was to attract a new generation of fans ahead of the imminent return to Withdean Stadium. Nothing quite says come and support this Division Three football club like a 4-0 home defeat to Darlington. What an advertisement.

At least Darlo had a recognised goalkeeper between the sticks for 90 minutes on the 4-0 afternoon. There was no shame in Richard Barker and Gary Hart failing to find a way past David Preece, whilst Gabbiadini banged in his treble at the other end with a Peter Smith own goal completing the rout.

There was considerable shame that the Albion played for over an hour with Shutt in goal and could not score. Of course, to score goals you need to have a shot on target and Brighton could not muster one of those either against the 10 men of Darlington.

29 minutes had elapsed when Smith found himself on one of those swashbuckling runs from right back he enjoyed making.

These were the days before attacking full backs became the norm, so it was somewhat unusual to see a defender charging up the pitch with the ball at his feet.

It normally came to very little. But it was still exciting. Against Darlington, this was a rare moment when Smith in the attacking third actually led to something happening.

Smith surprisingly found himself in one-on-one with clear space into which he could gallop towards the Darlo goal. A golden opportunity awaited.

Preece came haring out of his area. Smith knocked the ball past him and as he attempted to run around Preece, the visiting custodian wiped Smith out.

Last man foul. Denying a goal scoring opportunity. Dangerous and reckless play. Preece was bang to rights on three charges, leaving referee David Crick with one of the easiest decisions he would have made in his life. Straight red.

With only three subs allowed to be named in the 1997-98 season, no Division Three side was wasting a precious place on the bench with a replacement goalkeeper.

It therefore fell upon an outfield player to don the gloves in Preece’s absence with at least 61 minutes of football still to be played.

The dubious honour went to Shutt. Wikipedia states that Shutt is 5’11. He looked about 5’6 as he put on Preece’s shirt, which was at least three sizes too big.

To make the whole situation even more farcical, the Darlington goalkeeper kit of the time was yellow with red polka dots. It was better suited to the 3.45 at Plumpton than Nationwide League Division Three football at the Priestfield.

Darlington now had a jockey-sized goalkeeper wearing a jockey’s outfit. Shutt’s first act was to face the free kick Preece had conceded when hauling down Smith. It was around 25 yards out, perfectly placed slap bang in the middle of the goal.

I was nine-years-old for Brighton 0-0 Darlington. I attended virtually every game at Gillingham with my parents, stood slightly to the right of the goal on the Rainham End.

God knows why, but that free kick is one of the clearest memories I have of the Albion’s time at Priestfield. Shutt in his spotted jockey’s silks. Him looking tiny stood in the goal trying to line up a wall without the first clue how it was done.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but there even seemed to be an air of anticipation that the free kick would go in. The sort of air of anticipation rarely felt when the worst team in Brighton history were involved.

How could it not go in? There was a diminutive Darlington centre forward playing in goal for the first time in his life. Get it on target and Brighton would lead.

The free kick was not on target. In fact, nothing over the remaining hour plus of football was on target. From either side.

Darlington were pretty much non-existent as an attacking force from that point on. It was understandable given they were down to 10 men and with a striker playing in goal.

The Albion had their first clean sheet of the season at the ninth attempt. One of nine that Mark Ormerod and Nicky Rust would keep between them in the 1997-98. Shutt meanwhile had the first – and we have to presume only – clean sheet of his 512 game career.

As the hour of football played with Shutt in goal dragged on, expectation that Brighton would score pass Shutt turned to frustration at the inability to have a shot on target.

Frustration turned to laughter as the Albion became increasingly woeful in their attempts to find a way through. Shutt was having such a fun time that he even felt confident enough to try and catch a few crosses.

Yes, rather than working the ball into central positions to shoot against the stand-in goalkeeper, Brighton were pumping hopeful balls towards nobody.

By full time, laughter had given way to outright despair and very audible boos from “home” fans in the 1,803 crowd. It felt like a new low had been reached.

And for some Albion fans looking back over 25 years later, Brighton 0-0 Darlington remains as bad as it got at Gillingham.

Gritt said afterwards: “I can understand the crowd venting their feelings because they are having to come a long way to see us and are not getting value for money at the moment.”

That was very much true in footballing terms. If the Priestfield Stadium were a comedy club though, then Brighton delivered value for money by the bucketload when failing to score past the 5’6 Darlington striker playing for over an hour in goal.

They were the best of the times. They were the worst of times.