Hello Withdean: Albion come back to Brighton and hit Mansfield for six

If Brighton & Hove Albion 6-0 Mansfield Town had taken place in Roy of the Rovers or as an episode of Dream Team, people would have complained that it was too farfetched and never read another football-related comic or watched a football-related drama again.

Football club returns to its city after two years in exile 70.8 miles away. They win 6-0. New signing born and bred in said city who supported the club as a boy scores a hat-trick on his debut. Even the sun shone which, as the experience of the next 12 years playing at the Albion’s ‘temporary’ home tells us, was a bloody miracle.

Micky Adams had been a busy man over the summer of 1999, embarking on a squad rebuild the likes of which the Albion had not seen for many years and probably never will again.

12 new first team players arrived, six of whom started the first match at Withdean with another two coming off the bench. Such had been the rate of change at the Albion over the past two years that the only players involved against Mansfield who had played for Brighton in the final season at the Goldstone Ground were Mark Ormerod in goal and former captain Gary Hobson.

Adams had taken the armband from Hobson and given it to Paul Rogers for the 1999-00 season. Rogers had turned down a new contract at Wigan Athletic to move to Withdean despite being a regular in a Latics side playing a division above the Albion. He had even scored the winner in the Auto Windscreen Shield at Wembley for Wigan just four months earlier.

That Adams was bringing players to Division Three who were regulars in Division Two – Paul Watson, Charlie Oatway and Darren Freeman arrived from Brentford – resulted in a feelgood factor around the Albion for the first time in over a decade.

Brighton were back home, Withdean was sold out, Dick Knight was somehow finding actual money to spend on players rather than offering Space Raiders and an old cow and a manager with a proven track record in the bottom tier was in charge.

After years spent largely battling relegation no matter what division the Albion found themselves in, optimism was rife that eyes could be fixed firmly up the table for once.

Still, nobody could have predicted what would happen as Rogers led this new-look Brighton side out at Withdean for the first time, over that rickety old MDF bridge held together by scaffolding and gaffa tape which doubled as the player’s tunnel.

One of Withdean’s strangest features, that bridge looked like it might collapse that day after one game’s use. Quite how it survived an entire season – especially once the 27 stone figure of Mark Walton took over in goal from Ormerod – is a mystery on a par with what happened to Lord Lucan.

There cannot be many football stadiums in the world where the first red card happened before the first goal. Take a bow then Mansfield defender David Kerr, who managed to get himself sent off with only 12 minutes on the clock – going part of the way towards explaining how Brighton ran out 6-0 winners.

One of the hallmarks of Adams’ first spell in charge of Brighton was that his sides were full of characters who would never back down. They would fight until the end and were willing to get involved with the dark arts as well as being pretty good footballers.

The most famous example of that came during a pre-season tour to Ireland two years later, when a 30 man brawl before half time of a friendly became better known as the Battle of Longford and resulted in the Albion returning from the Emerald Isle before they had even completed half their scheduled games.

Adams infamously told his players after the riot they had partaken in: “Well done lads, get your gear on, we are out of here.” Fighting 15 Longford players, their coaching staff and their chairman, who waded in and ended up getting accidentally punched in the face by one of his own men during the melee was seen as character building.

It was this willingness to pile in and take no nonsense that contributed to Kerr’s red card. He had gone up for a header with Brighton left back Jamie Campbell, resulting in a clash of heads which left Campbell on the ground… or at least it did once Rogers came over and told Campbell as he attempted to get up to stay down and make the most of the situation.

Darren Freeman and Charlie Oatway were soon on the scene to start barging Kerr around and demanding a red card. Andy Crosby piled in and Rogers gave his two-pence worth once he had left Campbell to get on with doing a passable impression of Daniel Day-Lewis.

Even Ormerod came sprinting 50 yards out of his goal to get involved and he had not said boo to a goose in his three previous seasons in the Brighton goal.

With a rabid Withdean crowd shouting “OFF OFF OFF”, upcoming referee Chris Foy gave the people what they wanted and sent Kerr traipsing back over the wooden bridge and into the changing rooms less than a quarter of an hour after the Stags centre back had made the treacherous journey the other way.

Once Kerr was gone and Mansfield were down to 10, a sprightly Campbell returned to his feet and Brighton began to run riot on their way to a 6-0 victory.

Within two minutes, Freeman opened his account when lashing home after Crosby knocked down a free kick into the box. The Brighton-born striker tore towards the South Stand, clearly delighted at notching his first goal for the club he had supported as a boy.

He did not have to wait long for his second. Ormerod sent a goal kick 70 yards down the pitch, Gary Hart flicked on and when Stags defender Lee Cowling made a terrible mess of trying to get the ball back to goalkeeper Barry Richardson, Freeman pounced to round Richardson and slot home.

To be fair to Mansfield, those were the only two opportunities of note that they had given up to the Albion in the opening 45 minutes despite playing with a man less. Freeman meanwhile was playing in boots a size too small and so he decided to change them, appearing for the second half in a new pair.

Rod Thomas added the third on 56 minutes with an individual goal that reminded everyone of what a brilliant talent he could be. Cutting in from the left, he danced his way around two men before spotting a gap and bending an effort in at Richardson’s near post.

It proved to be Thomas’ final goal in an Albion shirt. Adams was never one to fully trust a maverick and when Thomas managed to get himself sent off after only five minutes of the return match with Mansfield at Field Mill – ironic given what had happened with Kerr – his Brighton career was all but over.

Having not scored for the best part of 30 minutes, Freeman decided to go through what every woman does on a night out by reverting to wearing shoes that hurt his feet for the greater good. For ladies in Shoosh, that purpose is looking good. For Freeman, it was scoring goals.

With his magic boots back on, Freeman duly became Threeman as he completed his hat-trick. Hart played a defence-splitting pass through to his strike partner who did the rest, coolly finishing past the advancing Richardson to complete one of the greatest debuts in Albion history.

Freeman was immediately hauled to a standing ovation with fellow debutant Aidan Newhouse taking his place. It did not take long for the free transfer signing from Swansea City to make an impression, scoring a brace of his own in just 17 minutes on the pitch.

Hart was the architect of Newhouse’s first, turning his marker out on the right and advancing into the box to deliver a low cross which Newhouse turned into the the roof of the net.

Dave Cameron (Scottish striker as opposed to future Prime Minister) teed up the final goal, something of a surprise given that six months later his Albion career came to an end after Alan Cork described him as “Useless, full stop” in a post-match interview following defeat at Hull City.

Cameron popped up on the right and floated a cross into the box for Newhouse to meet with a looping header to make it Brighton 6-0 Mansfield.

Newhouse now had four minutes plus injury time to grab another and join Freeman in the hat-trick club. Freeman must have been sweating on the bench that he would have to share his match ball.

Brighton though could not find a way to give a second striker a debut treble and so it finished Brighton 6-0 Mansfield. Adams was delighted, saying afterwards: “It was everything we could have hoped and wished for.” Roy of the Rovers, Dream Team… eat your hearts out.