The history of Brighton v Bristol Rovers

There have been approaching 150 games between Brighton and Bristol Rovers down the years and the one thing that the fixture always seems to deliver is goals.

A total of 439 have been scored so far at an average of approaching four a game. From the first Southern League meeting between the two in 1903 which finished 2-2 at the Goldstone right the way through to the most recent League One clash at the Memorial Stadium in 2011 which Gus Poyet’s Albion won 4-2, the goals have flowed at an astonishing rate.

That probably won’t come as a surprise, given that Rovers have a notorious place in Brighton folklore for inflicting one of the most infamous home defeats in the club’s history.

Saturday December 1st 1973 was the date. A month previously and little old Brighton had become the centre of attention of the footballing world for pulling off the astonishing coup of appointing Brian Clough as their new boss.

Just over a year previously, Clough had led Derby County to the English title. Six months earlier, he’d had them in a European Cup semi final. And yet here he was, managing a struggling third division side. What had attracted one of the best managers in the world to the Goldstone Ground?

The media wanted to find out and so ITV duly dispatched their Big Match cameras down to Hove for the meeting with third tier leaders Bristol Rovers. The result was something of an embarrassment as, with the nation watching on, the Gas hammered the Albion 8-2 – a scoreline which remains Brighton’s biggest home defeat of the past 50 years.

There have been plenty of other ridiculously one-sided games. In what hopefully isn’t a sign of what is to come, Division Three Rovers hammered higher division Albion 4-0 in the League Cup in 1972, a year before that shocker at the Goldstone.

Other mental scores include Brighton 6-1 Rovers (1960), Rovers 4-5 Brighton (1959), Rovers 7-0 Brighton (1952), Rovers 5-0 Brighton (1951), Brighton 1-6 Rovers (1946), Brighton 3-4 Rovers (1945), Rovers 5-3 Brighton (1932) and Brighton 7-0 Rovers (1927)

Twice in just under a decade, the Albion had wins over the Gas to thank for helping them earn promotion. In 1978-79, they beat Rovers 3-0 at home thanks to two Brian Horton penalties and a Teddy Maybank strike. Three games later and top flight status was gained away at Newcastle.

Fast forward nine years to the last day of the 1987-88 season and goals from Kevin Bremner and Garry Nelson secured a 2-1 victory in front of a Goldstone crowd of 19,800 which took Barry Lloyd’s side into the second tier.

The fixture has seen some notable firsts in Albion history. FA Cup Final goalkeeper – and one of the finest number ones ever to play for the club – Graham Moseley made his Brighton debut in a 4-0 win away at Eastville Stadium in April 1978.

Freddie Goodwin had his first game in charge of Brighton against Rovers on Saturday 9th November 1968. King Kit Napier scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win but only 6,175 people turned out to welcome the new manager.

There have been some notable lasts as well. The popular Bill Curry scored his 26th and final Albion goal in a 6-1 demolition of Rovers in August 1960 while Brighton’s final Division Three South game before ‘proper football’ was suspended for World War II was a 6-3 win against the Gas in April 1939.

With the Football League not resuming for another seven years and players displaced across the country and the continent as a result of the war effort, it was the last time that the Goldstone got to see many of their old favourites play in the stripes.

Most Brighton fans will recall the way in which Will Hoskins impressed Poyet so much in our 2010-11 season meetings that Poyet decided to fork out £500,000 for his services in the summer of 2011.

Remarkably, that wasn’t the first time a player was bought from Rovers based on his performances against the Albion. In September 1931, Brighton had beaten the Gas 2-0 at the Goldstone but visiting striker Arthur Attwood had looked the best individual on the park.

The Albion subsequently secured his services two months later, which proved to be a much better piece of business than the Hoskins deal. Attwood would go onto net 55 goals in 87 games over the course of the next three seasons. Hoskins in comparison managed 21 appearances and two goals in the same time frame.

Another player who represented both clubs was Adam Virgo, who made his name for the Albion as a defender who could also play up front. Mark McGhee – who managed both teams as well – wasn’t the first man to come up with such a radical idea though.

In 1930, Brighton were going through something of an injury crisis and out of sheer desperation, turned to Jack Carruthers to lead the line.

Carruthers at that point in time was a reserve team defender so the decision to stick him up top for the first team must have raised some serious eyebrows but it ended up being a roaring success, especially when he banged in a hat-trick against Rovers in a 4-0 Goldstone win on Boxing Day.

The most curious incident in the fixture however has nothing to do with goals, debuts or farewells. On September 13th 1948, the Albion travelled to Eastville but for reasons that don’t appear to have been ever explained, Jack Dugnolle failed to arrive at the stadium.

With only 10 players present, Brighton had to chuck trainer Alex Wilson into the side. Wilson had been a goalkeeper by trade but found himself playing on the right wing, the modern day equivalent of which would be Ben Roberts getting a go up front because Alireza Jahanbakhsh hasn’t turned up < insert joke about Jahanbakhsh never turning up here >.

Wilson was reported as “playing quite well given the circumstances” although his out-of-position presence wasn’t enough to stop another heavy defeat as the Albion went down 4-1.