Keane earned his Spurs to break Brighton FA Cup hearts in 2005

Have you ever forgiven Robbie Keane? Brighton were seven minutes away from a dream result at Spurs in the FA Cup third round of the 2005 edition of the world’s greatest competition when the Republic of Ireland striker scored a magnificent match winner to break Albion hearts.

It finished Spurs 2-1 Brighton at White Hart Lane on a crisp January afternoon. A win would have provided the Albion with a memorable upset, one of the best in their history.

What Brighton really wanted though was a Withdean replay for the benefit of both the club’s coffers and Dick Knight’s PR machine.

At the time, a decision on whether permission would be granted for a new stadium at Falmer was still meant to be three months away. Little did we know that it would be another six-and-a-half years before it opened.

Seeing Martin Jol and his band of superstars getting changed in a set of portacabins whilst 900 Spurs fans got soaked would have been perfect publicity for why Brighton needed a brand new home.

And you know Knight would milked it to the moon and back, just as he had so brilliantly the previous May when turning the Millennium Stadium and the Division Two playoff final into one big billboard aimed at John Prescott approving Falmer.

Even more important than the PR opportunity of a replay would have been the money. Five seasons at Withdean combined with now trying to compete in the Championship was clearing the Albion out.

Brighton were so cash strapped that Danny Cullip and Darren Currie had both been sold for a combined total of around £500,000 in the weeks leading up to the Spurs FA Cup tie.

A money spinning replay – and the possibility of victory and further riches from a big fourth round draw – would have been very welcome.

So yeah, thanks Robbie. Hopefully, reaching the quarter finals where you ended up exiting at the hands of of a Patrick Kluivert inspired Newcastle was well worth it.

It is not just Keane’s goal that makes that afternoon at White Hart Lane stick in the memory. All the ingredients were there for a classic FA Cup tie between two clubs separated by 31 places in the football pyramid and many, many millions of pounds. It more than lived up to expectations.

Brighton had not been drawn away in the FA Cup against a top flight team for 12 years. For younger Albion fans, this was their first ever time watching the Seagulls taking on Premier League opposition in a Premier League stadium.

These days, we take playing top flight opponents like Spurs for granted. In 2005, a trip to White Hart Lane and seeing the Albion play against the likes of Paul Robinson, Ledley King, Michael Carrick, Mido, Jermaine Defoe and Keane was an absolute treat.

In the weeks leading up to the game, you had the standard ticketing meltdown that must accompany any big cup game. Thousands more people than the 6,076 who attended Brighton v Rotherham United at Withdean a month earlier suddenly wanted to watch the Albion.

There were two subplots running through the tie, which every great FA Cup clash needs. Defoe and Leon Knight were boyhood friends facing each other in a prestigious game at first team level for the first time.

Knight gave a typically bullish set of interviews to any newspaper who would listen beforehand, saying that he was the better striker of the two. Talk about over egging the pudding.

The other story involved Mark McGhee and that man Keane… again. McGhee had given Keane his debut as a 16-year-old at Wolves.

Keane had bagged 99 career goals in the intervening eight years; scoring against Brighton would mean his 100th came against the man who gave him his big break.

As already mentioned, Keane duly did that. He and McGhee embraced at the full time whistle. Just to really rub it in, Keane presented his former manager with his match worn shirt, signed: “To Mark, Thanks for everything, 100th goal today!”

The football was a proper blood and thunder cup tie too. Brighton under McGhee between 2004 and 2006 played a lot of defensive football as they tried to make the most of their meagre resources.

Winning 1-0 at West Ham in November having had a possession share of about six percent and one shot compared to the Hammers’ 34 was the epitome of McGheeball.

Not at White Hart Lane, though. With no points on the line and protecting goal difference not an issue in the FA Cup, Brighton set out to have a real go at Spurs.

“We deserve credit for the fact we didn’t come to be spoilers, we didn’t come for a draw, we came to play football,” said McGhee afterwards.

Jol and his players certainly had not expected that. Neither had the 5,400 Albion fans lucky enough to have secured a ticket.

After covering White Hart Lane with a sea of yellow balloons, they roared their approval as Brighton attacked in numbers against opponents who were at the start of their journey towards becoming regular challengers for the top four.

That we have made it this far without mentioning Richard Carpenter tells you everything about the quality of the afternoon’s entertainment.

Carpenter was absolutely outstanding in midfield, setting his stall out when thumping an effort against the crossbar with 15 minutes played.

Better was to come from Carpenter, of course. Before that moment arrived, Spurs took a scarcely deserved lead when Brighton were caught unusually placid whilst defending a corner.

Michael Brown took it short, Reto Ziegler whipped the ball over and King looped a header over Michel Kuipers with only five minutes of the first half remaining.

Brighton were unperturbed. Kicking towards their own fans, it took less than 180 seconds of the second half for the Albion to equalise. A free kick slightly to the left of the Spurs goal about 25 yards out presented Carpenter with an opportunity.

He took a short run up and connected to the ball with that trusty right foot of his. England goalkeeper Robinson was caught out by both the power and the precision, beaten at the far post of the corner of the goal he was meant to be covering.

Normally, that would go down as goalkeeper error. Nobody was blaming Robinson in this case, the universally accepted fact being that it was a stunning free kick by Carpenter, every bit in keeping with the great distance goals scored in the FA Cup by another Albion midfielder enforcer, Jimmy Case.

Brighton became even more dominant, buoyed by the equaliser. Knight went close on a couple of occasions before Robinson showed why he was the finest goalkeeper in the land when producing a stunning stop from a Gary Hart header.

Anything that Spurs’ England number one could do, Brighton’s Former Dutch Marine could do better. With a quarter of an hour left, Ziegler hit a dipping shot which looked destined for the back of the net until Kuipers sprung from nowhere to palm the ball away.

That effort was a reminder of the quality Spurs possessed – especially Keane. Eight minutes later and he produced an outrageous piece of skill, bringing down Erik Edman’s cross on his chest before hitting an unstoppable volley on the half turn straight into the top corner.

Brighton’s back three of Guy Butters, Adam Hinshelwood and Adam Virgo had been excellent but there was nothing they could do to prevent that. Spurs had been bailed out by their talisman, and they knew it.

“These games are never a walkover,” said Jol afterwards. “I knew after half an hour that it would take something of that quality to make the difference.”

The last word went to McGhee: “If we don’t get permission for the stadium in the spring, we will go back down the leagues. The money we earned here keeps us open. We are literally skint.”

A £250,000 windfall from facing Spurs in the FA Cup went a long way for Brighton. Imagine how much more it could have been had Keane not been so damn good? The bastard.