The 41-year-old Brighton ball boy who got sacked for time wasting

Brighton v Manchester City is a fixture that has thrown up some great moments in Albion history down the years.

Who can forget when Micky Adams’ League One strugglers knocked the richest club in the world out of the Carling Cup? Or the sea of blue and white at the Amex that greeted the Seagulls first top flight game in 34 years in August 2017? That FA Cup semi final at Wembley last year was pretty special, too.

None though can hold a torch to when Manchester City visited the Goldstone on Saturday April 1st 1989 and Brighton had to sack their 41-year-old chief ball boy Keith Cuss for time wasting.

Keith was quite the character, a familiar and popular face around the Goldstone. Not only did he organise the rabble of kids responsible for collecting balls when they went out of play, but he also took part himself. That made him by far and away the oldest ball boy (or should that be ball man?) in the country.

For the visit of Manchester City to Brighton, Keith was undertaking ball boy duties at the northern end of the West Stand, in front of that bit of open terrace which came after the main stand itself ended. Coming up to the end of the season, this was a vital second tier fixture for both sides for different reasons.

At the bottom end of the table, Brighton needed the points in order to try and avoid an immediate return to the old Divison Three from whence they had been promoted the previous season. Victory for the Albion would put some daylight between Barry Lloyd’s side and the relegation zone.

City meanwhile were one of a clutch of clubs trying to hang onto the coattails of runaway leaders Chelsea. The Blues were already all but promoted but it was very much an open race as to who would join them in the top flight.

Crystal Palace, Watford, Blackburn Rovers, Swindon Town, Barnsley, Ipswich Town and West Bromwich Albion were all in with a shout.

These days, the idea of Chelsea and Manchester City battling it out for promotion from the Championship is almost as mad as a ball boy in his 40s.

Anyway, things were looking good for the Albion as the game ticked into the 89th minute. They were leading 2-1, Alan Curbishley scoring a first half penalty at the second attempt after a retake was ordered by referee John Deakin for encroachment. Paul Cooper in the City goal had saved the initial spot kick.

City equalised in the second half when Trevor Morley’s effort was deflected over John Keeley but the scores weren’t level for long, Ian Brightwell heading a superb own goal past Cooper from a Garry Nelson cross to put the Albion back into the lead.

It was all hands on deck after that as the hosts tried to hold on for what would be three very important points. City were growing increasingly frustrated at their inability to find a way through and as their attempts became more desperate, so their approach play became more sloppy with passes going astray. It was one such moment that ultimately resulted in Keith’s sacking.

Another loose pass from City was heading out of play, except this time it was at head height and going straight towards Keith.

Rather than try and stop or catch the ball, Keith took it upon himself to fling his neck back and produce a textbook back header that Danny Cullip would have been proud of, sending the ball flying above the supporters standing on the terrace, over the wall and out of the ground.

Needless to say, the majority of the 12,027 crowd there that day were absolutely delighted with what Keith had just done.

Not only had a 41-year-old ball boy produced the perfect back header into the crowd, but he’d done so in a must-win game to time waste in the final minute.

Manchester City on the other hand were incensed, especially as the Albion held on to win. Their players and bench went mad at the time with manager Mel Machin holding Keith solely responsible for the defeat in his post match interviews. Nothing to do with the other 89 minutes, Mel?

City supporters still remember the incident to this day with Keith getting plenty of mentions on a thread about ball boys on the Blue Moon Rising forum a few years ago.

Machin’s comments were soon picked up by the national press, who were understandably extremely interested in the story of this 41-year-old time-wasting ball boy down at the Goldstone and although Keith got his 15 minutes of fame for the incident, the Albion ended up sacking him for ‘gross misconduct’.

Keith’s actions didn’t end up costing City in the long run. They finished the season as runners up to Chelsea to win promotion back to the top flight.

The Albion meanwhile ended up surviving quite comfortably, three places and nine points clear of Shrewsbury Town who occupied the final relegation spot.

All’s well that ends well then, except for Keith who never worked as a chief ball boy again. Still, at least he went out on a high as the 41-year-old ball boy who gave the Brighton v Manchester City fixture its greatest moment.