Swansea 2-0 Brighton: When Micky Adams nearly played for flu-hit Albion

The Vetch, Swansea was never the most enjoyable place for Brighton fans to visit long before the Albion’s last ever league game there, a 2-0 defeat on Saturday December 18th 1999.

Brighton never won in this corner of South Wales. Matches always seemed to take place in the pissing rain or the freezing cold. And if you were really lucky, your pre and post game entertainment would involve getting chased around narrow streets by rabid Welshmen who despised the English.

Take the experience of the 1998-99 season, for example. The fixture was moved to Friday 5th February so that it did not clash with Wales’ Five Nations game away at Scotland, giving home fans an entire day to get tanked up on Brains and rarebit.

At one point, a Swansea fan invaded the pitch to racially abuse Albion midfielder Michael Bennett to his face. Ross Johnson scoring twice in a 2-2 draw infuriated the locals even more and those Seagulls fans were brave/stupid enough to stay overnight reported Swansea hooligans trying to break into B&Bs afterwards to have a ruck, only to be fended off by hoteliers.

Fast forward 10 months and Micky Adams had a rather different problem ahead of a trip to Swansea than putting on a fake Welsh accent or hiding in the kitchen of a hotel to avoid getting beaten up.

Flu had ripped through his Albion squad, ruling out 12 senior players. Amongst the ill were goalkeeper Mark Walton and defenders Ross Johnson, Darren Carr, Gary Hobson and Kerry Mayo.

From midfield, Charlie Oatway, Warren Aspinall and Paul Armstrong were suffering and Adams’ four first choice strikers were all unavailable. Gary Hart, Aidan Newhouse and Scott Ramsay had been hit by the flu with Darren Freeman suspended.

On the Thursday before the game, Adams had sought a postponement fearing he would not be able to get a team out. When the FA said that the Albion had to play or risk a fine and points deduction, the Brighton boss was left with two options.

The first was to take kids from the youth set up to the Vetch. Flu had also hit the Under 18s, meaning that those selected would be done so purely on the basis that they had so far escaped illness.

Adams’ second option was to register himself, assistant Alan Cork, reserve team manager Ian Culverhouse and youth team boss Dean Wilkins as players to fill the bench.

“Myself, Corky, Culvers, Hinsh, Deano, Malcolm Stuart and Jock Riddell all face late fitness tests,” Adams said in the lead up to the game. “Although having seen the size of Dean Wilkins’ backside in the new shorts, we will all be relieved if he does not have to embarrass himself further by having to play.”

Whether it was Wilkins’ posterior that led Adams to opt for the kids, we will never know. Those deemed well enough to travel were 16-year-olds Dean Hammond and Chris McPhee and 18-year-old Shaun Wilkinson.

McPhee and Wilkinson made their debuts whilst Hammond was not needed in the end. Adams also gave a first Brighton start to 19-year-old Ryan Palmer and managed to load Oatway and Aspinall up with an industrial amount of Lemsip to convince them to try and get through 90 minutes.

Adams also managed to acquire a new loan signing on Friday lunchtime. The services of striker Lorenzo Pinamonte were secured from Bristol City with the Albion team coach stopping off as it made its merry way along the M4 to collect him from Ashton Gate.

The first time Pinamonte met his teammates was when he stepped onto the bus in Bristol. The first time he kicked a ball with them was in the warm up at the Vetch Field. Talk about being thrown into the deep end.

Pinamonte would go onto play nine times for the Albion over the next month, scoring twice. Adams wanted to sign him permanently and Dick Knight agreed a fee with Bristol City in January, only for Brentford to come in at the last minute and gazump what Brighton were offering.

The Italian striker therefore headed to Griffin Park, leaving Adams to search for another centre forward. His find? A 19-year-old reserve from the other side of Bristol called Bobby Zamora.

Had Brighton managed to sign Pinamonte permanently, the Albion would never have discovered Zamora and that golden period of back-to-back Division Three and Division Two titles might look very different. Strange how these things work out.

For his debut, Pinamonte led the line as a lone striker in Swansea 2-0 Brighton. A thankless task was made even harder when the Albion were reduced to 10 men following a red card for Jamie Campbell with only 25 minutes played.

From his summer arrival from Cambridge United, Campbell had looked a liability. The fact that Adams kept picking him at left back over Mayo was a constant source of bemusement to Albion fans.

Adams finally saw what those Withdean regulars did at Swansea, however. Two needless yellows for scything down Jason Price twice in the space of 90 seconds sent Campbell packing and made an already difficult task for a flu-hit side more difficult. Campbell played only three more times for the Albion before being released to join Exeter City.

Three minutes prior to the red card and Swansea had taken the lead. Brighton were again their own worst enemies, Andy Crosby knocking the ball away from Steve Watkin with his hand whilst lying on the ground.

The resulting free-kick on the edge of the box was touched to Nick Cusack. He smashed a low effort which somehow got through both the defensive wall and the legs of Mark Ormerod.

As the rain fell, chants of “Adams, what’s the score?” reverberated around the Vetch, referencing the Albion boss controversially quitting as Swansea manager after just three matches in 1997.

Adams had claimed that the budget he had been promised when he took the job was not there. That he walked into the Brentford job 14 days later did little to endear him to the Swans fanbase.

Given the circumstances of a flu-hit squad down to the bare bones playing title chasing opponents unbeaten in eight with only 10 men, Brighton gave a good account of themselves over the 65 minutes following Campbell’s dismissal.

Danny Cullip was outstanding at left back (yes, Adams played him as a left back) with Brighton switched to a 4-4-1 formation as Swansea found chances to make it 2-0 hard to come by.

The Albion nearly had a most unlikely equaliser midway through the second half. Pinamonte popped up on the left and curled over a beautiful cross.

Palmer did well to head it downwards and Paul Rogers looked set to pull the trigger until Swansea goalkeeper Roger Freestone saved bravely at the feet of the Albion captain.

Swansea needed to make it 2-0 to kill the game off and they did eventually do that, ending the Brighton resistance with 12 minutes left to play. Watkin played a brilliant through ball which split Crosby and Keith McPherson wide open, leaving Jon Coates to drill past Ormerod.

Adams was proud of his players afterwards, telling The Argus: “I was pleased with the overall performance. The 10 lads that were out there and the substitutes who came on can feel proud. We didn’t buckle, we kept going and that’s the pleasing thing.”

Nearly as pleasing as Adams not having to play himself, Wilkins’ backside not squeezing into a tiny pair of shorts, or Albion fans not getting locked in their own B&Bs whilst the owner attempts to keep out an angry mob with a broomstick. It was never dull at the Vetch.