Brighton v Blackpool: History & head-to-head of Seagulls v Seasiders

Brighton v Blackpool is one of those fixtures with a history that is absolutely perfect in terms of numbers. Nothing can split the sides as in 30 previous meetings between Seagulls and Seasiders, there are 10 wins apiece and 10 draws. It is an OCD dream.

This weekend’s FA Cup meeting will be the first that has taken placed outside of league competition. Never before had Brighton drawn Blackpool in either FA or League Cup, which is strange in itself as the Albion have faced most clubs at least once in a knockout game at some point over the past 120 years.

It was not until the 1972-73 season that the clubs first encountered each other. Brighton had just been promoted to the second tier for the second time in their history and with the days of Blackpool as a top flight regular now over, the sides met at Bloomfield Road on Saturday 19th August 1972.

Willie Irvine scored twice for the Albion but they leaked six at the other end to go down to a 6-2 defeat, setting the tone for a campaign in which Pat Saward’s side would finish bottom of the table having conceded 83 times to make an immediate return to the old Division Three.

Five years later and the most famous Brighton v Blackpool game took place in the history of the fixture. Saturday 29th April 1978 was the final day of the 1977-78 season and the Albion needed to beat the Tangerines at the Goldstone Ground to win promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time.

There was a catch, however. Even if Alan Mullery’s side got the victory they required, Brighton were also relying on one of Southampton or Tottenham Hotspur to drop points in order to move ainto the promotion places.

As luck would have it for the Saints and Spurs, the fixture Gods had paired them together on the final day. And would you believe it, the final score at the Dell was 0-0.

Strangely, two sides who had plundered 153 goals between themselves over the course of the 41 previous games suddenly found themselves unable to muster a single shot on target.

Both went up and the Albion’s 2-1 win over Blackpool delivered by goals from Peter Ward and Brian Horton in front of one of the biggest Goldstone crowds ever of 33,431 counted for nothing.

Mullery was clearly incensed by the stitch up and as supporters took part in the traditional end-of-season pitch invasion, he grabbed a microphone whilst he and his players took applause from the director’s box.

Rather boldly, the Brighton boss promised that the Albion would be a top flight side within a year. It was the sort of declaration that normally backfires spectacularly.

Mullery himself realised that almost immediately, later saying, “With hindsight, it wasn’t the cleverest thing to do because I was setting myself up for a fall. But I had real belief that this team was good enough.”

Mullery’s faith was well placed. 370 days after beating Blackpool 2-1 at the Goldstone proved to be not enough, Brighton took their place amongst the elite for the first time in their history with a 3-1 win at Newcastle United to win promotion as runners up to Crystal Palace.

There were just two clashes between Brighton and Blackpool in the 1980s. Alan Curbishley scored his first Albion goal on Saturday 5th September 1987 in a 3-1 defeat at the Goldstone.

Brighton gained revenge by winning by the same scoreline at Bloomfield Road on Saturday 6th February 1988. Garry Nelson netted twice and Johnny Crumplin Football Genius made a rare appearance on the scoresheet.

The 1990s saw a series of matches take place across the third tier, none of which were particularly noteworthy – unlike the 2000-01 season when Brighton and Blackpool were in the fourth tier together for the only time in the history of the fixture.

Micky Adams took his eventual Division Three champions to the Vegas of the North on Tuesday 12th September 2000, right at the height of the fuel crisis when 90 percent of the nation’s petrol pumps ran dry and the country ground to the halt.

Despite the fact that nobody could guarantee their vehicles would make it back from the 594 mile round trip because of the lack of fuel, 341 Brighton fans still found a way to make it to Blackpool. They were rewarded by Paul Rogers and Gary Hart goals in a 2-0 win.

The return match on Tuesday 20th February 2001 saw another Brighton win and clean sheet. Andy Crosby scored one of the strangest goals of the Withdean era when he used his ear to deflect a shot into the back of the Blackpool net for a 1-0 success and three more points towards the title.

Steve Coppell’s final game in charge of Brighton took place against the Tangerines on Saturday 4th October 2003. Anyone arriving late at Withdean that day would have missed Danny Coid scoring an own goal inside 84 seconds. Along with Chris McPhee’s brace, that gave the Albion a 3-0 win which took them top of the third tier.

Neither Brighton’s lofty position at the head of the pack nor The Argus running a Save Our Steve campaign could convince Coppell to turn down Reading. Mark McGhee took Coppell’s place a few weeks later.

McGhee himself had been replaced by Dean Wilkins a month before Blackpool came to Withdean on Sunday 8th October 2006 for what was arguably the worst Brighton performances at the Theatre of Trees.

For reasons unknown, Sky Sports decided to broadcast the League One clash at 1.30pm on a Sunday lunchtime. Those desperate enough for a football fix to tune in were treated to Blackpool walking to a 3-0 victory with only 5,146 bothering to attend in person – one of the lowest crowds for a league match Brighton recorded during their history at Withdean.

That success was the Tangerines’ last victory in Sussex. They are winless in four attempts at the Amex, although they did become the first ever team to leave Falmer with a point.

Brighton had looked to be cruising to victory when Craig Mackail-Smith and Ashley Barnes had the Albion 2-0 ahead with an hour played against Blackpool on Saturday 20th August 2011. Kevin Phillips though had other ideas and he scored twice, including a 90th minute equaliser, to ensure the spoils were shared in a 2-2 draw.

A season later and Brighton racked up their biggest win at the Amex when Blackpool came to town. Gus Poyet’s You Know Who’s side scored all seven goals in a 6-1 victory; Will Buckley, Matt Upson, Andrea Orlandi, David Lopez and a Barnes brace at the right end and Dean Hammond with a spectacular own goal at the wrong one.

For Barnes, it was quite a way to return having been banned for the previous seven games for tripping over the referee in defeat at Bolton in the middle of March.

The most recent league meetings came in the 2014-15 season when Blackpool finished rock bottom of the Championship table, 20 points adrift of safety.

In a sign of how bad Brighton were that year, the Seagulls failed to even score a goal against the Tangerines, drawing 0-0 at the Amex under Sami Hyypia on Saturday 20th September 2014 and losing 1-0 at Bloomfield Road under Chris Hughton on Saturday 31st January 2015.

Here is hoping for better this time around.