Brighton 1-1 Luton: Withdean at its wettest and a 25 yard Carpenter tackle
The problem with spending 12 years playing at a stadium with no roof is that you tended to get very wet when it rained. Between 1999 and 2011, there were numerous candidates for the worst conditions that the Albion played in at Withdean but there can surely be only one winner – Brighton 1-1 Luton Town on Saturday 25th March 2006.
Normally when mother nature decided to do her worst, it was only the fans who suffered. Rainfall that would make the Amazon blush may have made Rochdale in 1999, the playoff semi final with Swindon Town in 2004 and Millwall in 2008 pretty unpleasant viewing experiences, but it never impacted on what was going on out on the pitch.
Which is why the visit of the Hatters must be Withdean’s wettest. As the rain tumbled relentlessly onto the heads of the 7,139 brave/loyal/insane fans who had turned out to watch a Brighton side seven points adrift of safety in the Championship and without a win in 11 matches, so it turned the pitch into a swamp more reminiscent of the Everglades National Park than the Withdean Woods Local Nature Reserve.
Whilst Florida has alligators lurking in its murky waters, Brighton had Richard Carpenter. As a tough-tackling midfielder, Chippy loved nothing more than a slide tackle and needless to say, he was in his element aquaplaning through the mud as the conditions became increasingly farcical the longer the game went on.
Ask Albion fans who were that day what they remember most about Brighton 1-1 Luton and it probably will not be that Gifton Noel-Williams scored on his debut or that Adam Hinshelwood claimed a brilliant assist, his first since returning from a career-threatening knee injury which had ruled him out for 10 months.
The one overriding image seen through the Withdean rain is Carpenter taking off and sliding a full 25 yards on his arse to dispossess a Luton player. It was such a ridiculous challenge that it drew louder cheers from around the ground than Noel-Williams’ goal.
15 years may have passed but I can still see it in my mind, clear as day. One of those you had to be there moments, like the Hinshelwood and Colin Hawkins own goals we would be treated to 18 months later.
Carpenter’s was not the only slide tackle that was cheered. Nobody could stay on their feet as the field of play turned to slop. By the midway stage of the second half, every player making a slide tackle – and it felt like there was one every two or three minutes – got the same treatment.
And why not celebrate players falling over so frequently? After all, there was precious little else to cheer as by the time the final whistle blew on Brighton 1-1 Luton, the Albion were as good as relegated from the Championship despite having six games left to play.
Whilst Brighton were suffering in a Sussex monsoon, all their fellow strugglers were recording unlikely successes. Bottom side Crewe Alexandra moved level on points with the Albion thanks to victory against midtable Coventry City; Millwall moved five clear by winning at third placed Watford and Sheffield Wednesday defeated playoff chasing Wolves at Molineux to leave Brighton now 10 points adrift.
The day had begun so promisingly too. Brighton had spent the past two seasons desperately needing a target-man style centre forward ever since Chris Iwelumo’s loan had finished following the 2004 Division Two playoff final win over Bristol City.
Mark McGhee had muddled through, turning Adam Virgo into a striker with surprising success and then trying to fill the void with the likes of Mark McCammon, Federico Turienzo and Colin Kazim-Richards.
Noel-Williams’ arrival on loan from Burnley finally gave McGhee the striker he needed, albeit far too late in the day to save Brighton from their fate.
It did not take the new man long to show the Albion faithful what a proven Championship centre forward could do. Noel-Williams was just 18 minutes into his debut when he steered a header with power and precision from a pinpoint Hinshelwood cross past Marlon Beresford in the Luton goal.
Dean Hammond should have made it 2-0 on the hour mark but he could only place an easy chance straight at Beresford after Brighton’s double-barrelled strike force of Noel-Williams and Kazim-Richards worked the opportunity.
Brighton were made to pay for that miss as Luton went straight up the other end to equalise. This was around the time when Wayne Henderson’s favourite party trick was to make good saves but ruin them by pushing the ball straight back into the danger zone.
On this occasion, Henderson denied Warren Feeney, only for his stop to divert the ball straight into Paul McShane for an unfortunate own goal against the name of the Manchester United loanee.
As the conditions worsened, both Brighton and Luton were forced into keeping the ball in the air for the final 30 minutes to avoid the mud and the bodies slipping and sliding to the ground.
It was this aerial route which gave the Albion their best chance to win the game with 15 minutes to play. Joe Gatting’s first action after replacing Kazim-Richards was to head an aerial ball back towards Gary Hart, but he could only hit Beresford’s post via a deflection off a Luton defender as it finished Brighton 1-1 Luton.
McGhee tried to remain positive afterwards. “It’s not impossible for any team to win six games in a row,” he told The Argus after what we can only assume was one almighty bender on his favoured whiskey in a pint glass.
“It happens all the time in many leagues. It looks unlikely at the moment but with Gifton here who knows? We may go and win six games but I think it’s going to take something astonishing like that for us to stay up. We are in the must-win zone.”
Most Albion fans though knew that the writing was on the wall as they headed home from the wettest of wet Withdean experiences. Wildly celebrating slide tackles rather than goals was a sign that the season was over and needless to say, McGhee’s dream of six wins in a row failed to come to fruition.
Brighton instead were sliding into League One and unfortunately, it was nowhere near as enjoyable as Carpenter’s 25 yard tackle.
Brighton: Wayne Henderson, Adam Hinshelwood, Paul McShane, Guy Butters, Joel Lynch, Gary Hart, Richard Carpenter, Dean Hammond, Alexandre Frutos, Colin Kazim-Richard, Gifton Noel-Williams.
Subs: Adam El-Abd (Frutos 61), Joe Gatting (Kazim-Richards 72), Sebastien Carole (Hart 90), Jason Dodd, Florent Chaigneau (unused).
Scorers: Noel-Williams 18′.
Luton: Marlon Beresford, Kevin Foley, Markus Heikkinen, Chris Coyne, Sol Davis, Carlos Edwards, Paul Underwood, Steve Robinson, Ahmet Brkovic, Steve Howard, Warren Feeney.
Subs: Rowan Vine (Brkovic 64), David Bell (Edwards 64), Enoch Showunmi (Feeney 75), Russell Perrett, Dean Brill (unused).
Scorers: McShane OG 61′.
Referee: Paul Armstrong
Attendance: 7,139
