Brighton history made with extra time winner by player called Virgo
Albion history made thanks to an extra time winner from a player called Virgo. No, not that one. Eight years before Adam Virgo broke Swindon hearts in the Division Two playoff semi final, his older brother James scored the first ever golden goal in Brighton history.
Some of you younger readers have probably never heard of James Virgo. And you also might be wondering what the hell a golden goal is. So, a brief explanation of the latter before talking about the former.
The golden goal was introduced to football in the 1990s. It meant whoever scored the first goal of extra time won the game.
Like ‘next goal wins’ on the school playground but in a professional setting. The theory being it would mean teams went on the attack in extra time, knowing they only needed to net once to win the game and avoid the lottery of penalties.
Except of course it did not play out like that. Tactics in extra time became even more defensive. Rather than try and find a golden goal, managers and players became petrified of conceding one. It made most additional 30 minutes even more boring.
There were some exceptions to the rule, of course. Most notably when golden goals decided both the 1996 and 2000 European Championship finals.
Oliver Bierhoff scored the first golden goal at a major international tournament when Germany beat Czech Republic 2-1 at Wembley to win Euro 96.
It was the same story four years later, this time David Trezeguet sending France to Euro 2020 glory in Rotterdam via a 2-1 victory over Italy.
Alongside making teams more desperate not to lose rather than win, the golden goal was disliked because of the way a piece of pure luck could decide a game.
Two teams could have put on a real show for 90 minutes, only for a freak own goal or fortunate bounce to decide it 60 seconds into extra time.
Penalties therefore became preferable as a means of declaring winners as they were more representative of actual football skill.
When it became clear the golden goal was not working, some bright spark came up with the silver goal. Don’t worry, we won’t go into that frankly ridiculous concept here.
You can look forward to that when we finally get around to writing the article about Chris McPhee scoring twice in extra time as Brighton beat Boston United in the 2003-04 LDV Vans Trophy. The only time the silver goal rule was applied in an Albion game.
Back to golden goals instead. The first ever golden goal in English football was scored in the Auto Windscreen Shield by Iain Dunn in November 1994, giving Huddersfield Town a 3-2 win over Lincoln City.
Just over three years later and Brighton had their first golden goal, courtesy of James Virgo. It also came in the Auto Windscreen Shield on Tuesday 17th December 1996 and just 1,384 people were at the Goldstone Ground to witness it.
The visitors were Fulham. Whilst the Cottagers were chasing promotion from Division Three under the management of a certain Micky Adams, Brighton were rock bottom of the table and staring relegation to the Conference in the face.
Steve Gritt had just taken charge of his first Albion game three days earlier, overseeing a morale boosting 3-0 home win against Hull City.
Wanting to continue building momentum, Gritt named a strong Brighton XI. The only exceptions being Virgo making a full Albion debut at left back and a 19-year-old called Kerry Mayo in midfield for his fifth career appearance. Wonder what happened to him?
Adams took the opposite approach and heavily rotated his Fulham squad, back in the days before heavy rotation was even a thing.
So much heavy rotation in fact that Adams even started himself at left back – aged 36 – for what proved to be the final game of his professional playing career.
His was not the only name on the Cottagers team sheet which would go onto become familiar to Brighton fans a few years down the line.
Mark Walton. Paul Watson. Danny Cullip. Simon Morgan. Paul Brooker. Darren Freeman. Six future Albion players all started, alongside a future manager. That number would have been more had Richard Carpenter not been suspended.
It shows you what a powerful squad Fulham had that Adams could make six changes from their weekend home draw against Leyton Orient and still name an XI with so much quality.
The Cottagers were therefore expected to win. And it looked like that was going to happen with the visitors leading 2-1 as late as the 87th minute.
Fulham started strongly with Brighton-born Freeman looking particularly determined to punish his hometown club.
Freeman was involved in the opening goal, his header saved by Nicky Rust only for Nick Cusack to tuck home the rebound.
Craig Maskell equalised on the stroke of half time via an excellent finish on the spin placed beyond Walton. Levelling the tie gave the Albion renewed confidence in the second half as they took the game to Fulham.
There were 14 minutes of normal time remaining when the Cottagers retook the lead. And it was Adams of all people with the assist.
He rolled back the years to 1978, charging forward and delivering a dangerous cross into the box. Rob Scott met it with a powerful header only a couple of minutes after replacing Freeman in attack.
Almost everyone watching would have assumed that was game over. Brighton though had other ideas. Cullip was adjudged to have pushed Maskell inside the box, giving the Albion an 87th minute penalty.
Paul McDonald converted. And so it was off to extra time. But not before Gary Hobson managed to get sent off for Brighton between McDonald scoring and the 90 ending.
Only 120 seconds of the additional 30 minutes had been played when Virgo struck his golden goal. Blessed with a powerful left foot, he lined up a free kick some 25 yards out.
Virgo subsequently drilled a rocket low and hard. The Fulham wall jumped. The ball flew under it and deceived Walton to nestle in the back of the net.
With that, it was game over. The final whistle instantly blew. Job done. A golden goal winner for Brighton from James Virgo four days before his 20th birthday. A place in the history books.
Not bad for what turned out to be the only start of his professional career.
As for the Virgo brothers’ ability to find dramatic extra time winners? Makes you wonder what was put in their cornflakes when James and Adam were growing up…
