Brighton v Newcastle: History & head-to-head of Albion v Toon Army

The history of Brighton versus Newcastle United is littered with entertainment and plenty of memorable experiences from an Albion point-of-view – especially in the Premier League era.

The first ever meeting between Brighton and Newcastle came in the fifth round of the FA Cup in the 1929-30 season. The Albion had never gone beyond round three of the competition before, so it was an historic occasion at St James’ Park.

Having eliminated Peterborough & Fletton United and Barry Town in the first and second round, the Albion then shocked top flight pair Grimsby Town and Portsmouth in rounds three and four.

Confidence was therefore high of another upset and six train loads of supporters left Brighton Station at midnight on Saturday, bound for the north east. These were the days before Southern Rail, so everyone of course made it to St James’ Park for what looked like a tough but winnable game.

Newcastle were bottom of the top flight at the time, something of a false position as it turned out. With a dangerous forward line spearheaded by Hughie Gallacher, the Albion found themselves pinned in their own half for much of the tie and were well beaten 3-0 by a Gallacher hat-trick.

Charlie Webb’s Albion did at least try and play football, leaving St James’ Park with their reputation as one of the better footballing sides from Division Three South intact.

The attendance at Newcastle of 56,469 was by far the biggest that Brighton had ever played in front of in their history. In fact, it would be over 87 years until the Albion performed in front of a bigger crowd (excluding the 1983 FA Cup Final) when 59,378 saw Arsenal beat Chris Hughton’s Seagulls 2-0 at the Emirates in October 2017.

It was not until the 1961-62 campaign that the Albion faced off in league action when Newcastle dropped into the second tier. Come the end of the season and Brighton were doing some dropping of their own, relegated rock bottom of the table having lost 5-0 and 4-0 in the two clashes with the Toon Army.

The 1978-79 season was the next time Brighton and Newcastle crossed paths and this was an altogether better experience as one of the greatest days in Albion history came at St James’ Park.

Saturday 5th May 1979 saw 10,000 Albion fans travel to Tyneside to see Brian Horton, Peter Ward and Gerry Ryan all score in a 3-1 Brighton win that confirmed promotion to the top flight for the first time on the final day of the season.

The scenes on the Seagulls Specials train back have become almost as famous as the result itself as players and fans drank champagne together and celebrated long into the night.

Horton himself said some years later: “Oh my word! The paralytic express! We always used to travel to away games by train anyway, so Newcastle wasn’t any different in that respect.”

“It seemed to go on forever, but nobody cared one bit. All the players and the fans and directors were mixing. We got back to Brighton in the early hours of Sunday morning and I don’t think anyone could stand up by that point. It was just incredible – the best train trip ever. Anyone who was on it will say the same thing.”

Brighton faced Newcastle next at the start of their run to the 1983 FA Cup Final, Jimmy Melia’s side needing a replay to eliminate the Division Two Toon Army as the Albion kicked off their journey to Wembley. Peter Ward scored the only goal at St James’ Park following a 1-1 Goldstone Ground draw in which Andy Ritchie netted.

Once Brighton left the top flight following the 1982-83 campaign, games with Newcastle became more frequent over the next 10 years or so. One particularly memorable evening came in January 1991 when Bryan Wade scored all four goals on his full home debut as Brighton beat the Toon 4-2.

Just a matter of weeks previously, Wade had been unemployed before being offered a trial by Barry Lloyd. He then found himself being thrown in at the deep end for the visit of Newcastle.

As far as first impressions in front of Brighton fans go, it remains one of the best in Albion history and one that must have left Newcastle baffled.

Twice the sides were paired in the FA Cup at the start of the Amex era and twice the Seagulls shocked Alan Pardew’s Newcastle. Will Buckley hit the winner in the fourth round in 2011-12 as Adam El-Abd embraced a massive walking FA Cup on the pitch and a year later, Andrea Orlandi and Will Hoskins scored in a 2-0 third round success.

Newcastle gained a measure of revenge for those eliminations, completing a Championship double over the Albion in the 2016-17 season when winning 2-0 at St James’ Park and 2-1 at the Amex.

The Toon then snatched the title from Chris Hughton’s men with just 120 seconds of the season remaining when Jack Grealish’s 30 yard shot for Aston Villa slipped through the legs of David Stockdale, denying Brighton the three points they needed to win the league and sending the silverware to St James’.

Since then, Brighton have lost just once in 10 Premier League matches against the Toon. Even more impressive is the Albion’s defensive record, conceding just four in that time.

Prior to the 2020-21 season, most of those matches had gone against the entertaining grain of the fixture and been pretty dull. In fact, the entertainment factor has been on a par with having root canal treatment.

1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 0-0 and 0-0 were the first six score lines recorded in the Premier League between the two. The September 2020 meeting at St James’ Park changed all that.

Tariq Lamptey gave his best performance in a Brighton shirt and Neal Maupay scored a brace as the Albion sauntered to a 3-0 victory over Newcastle, the biggest success in their history on Tyneside.

It was the same score when the Toon came to the Amex in March. Steve Bruce was utterly flummoxed by Graham Potter’s split striker system and Brighton’s front three ran riot as Leandro Trossard, Danny Welbeck and Maupay all found their way onto the score sheet.

2021-22 saw Newcastle end their barren run against the Albion. A 1-1 draw at the Amex in November was notable for ending with Lewis Dunk in goal following a Robert Sanchez red card and Graham Potter having used all three of his permitted substitutes.

Brighton then lost 2-1 at St James’ Park in March, a defeat which keep slap bang in the middle of a sequence of six successive losses. Two goals inside the opening 15 minutes proved enough to give the Toon their first ever top flight win over Brighton at the 10th attempt.