When the Albion shocked the Albion in 1976
The 1976-77 season was one of the most memorable campaigns in the Albion’s history – a year that had it all.
Alan Mulley would lead the club to promotion to the second tier at the end of his first season in charge at the Goldstone. There were five meetings with Crystal Palace – including the infamous “you’re not worth that” clash – as the Seagulls-Eagles rivalry sparked into life.
Peter Ward scored a club-record 36 goals in a single campaign to finish top scorer in the whole Football League. There were some huge scorelines racked up at the Goldstone, including a 7-2 win over York City and a 7-0 hammering of Walsall. And there was a memorable run to the fourth round of the League Cup in which three top division sides failed to beat a Brighton outfit from two divisions below.
The second of those meetings with Division One opponents was the first ever time that the Albion had taken on the other Albion in a competitive game when Brighton were paired with West Bromwich at the Hawthorns in round three. To get that far, Mullery’s men had knocked out Southend United in the first round before vanquishing Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town 2-1 in a replay at the Goldstone after the original tie had ended 0-0 at Portman Road.
That success over the Tractor Boys was the first time that the Albion had defeated top flight opposition since 1933, and you know what they say about cup shocks – you wait 43 years for one to come along, and then two happen in the space of a fortnight.
West Brom were a talented outfit who would go onto finish seventh in Division One come the end of the campaign. Yet if you watched the game at the Hawthorns with no knowledge of the club’s respective league positions, you’d never have known that it was Brighton who were the side playing two divisions down as the Albion more than matched their illustrious opponents.
Some would say that the win over Ipswich owed much to lady luck. Brighton had finished that night with 10 men after Phil Beal was stretchered off – only one substitute in those days – and Peter Grummitt’s goal had been under relentless pressure before Graham Cross headed home what proved to be the winner two minutes from time for the Albion.
There was no such fortune needed in the Midlands. Brighton were magnificent as Ward scored twice to underline his prodigious talent in a 2-0 victory. The first arrived after only three minutes, Ward going through on goal after an excellent move between Ian Mellor and Gerry Fell played the Albion striker in.
Ward doubled the lead on the half hour mark with a goal of individual brilliance. Virtually every person in the 18,455 crowd at the Hawthorns must have been expecting him to slip the ball to his left to find the onrushing Mellor, such was the angle that Ward was approaching the goal at. That is certainly what the Baggies defence thought was going to happen as they positioned themselves to cut out the pass that was surely coming.
But it wasn’t. Ward instead went it alone, crashing home a splendid shot to double the lead. A miserable night for West Brom was completed when winger Willie Johnston was rather brilliantly sent off for trying to kick referee Derek Lloyd – something of a myth-buster for all those who say dissent and a lack of respect towards officials is a recent phenomenon. That was the 10th dismissal of Johnston’s career, a record that would make even Charlie Oatway blush.
West Brom tried to get back into the game after that but every time they came forward, they left themselves vulnerable to Ward and Mellor at the other end with the Albion’s deadly strike duo causing panic in the Baggies defence every time they received the ball. It could have been more than 2-0.
Come the full time whistle, Brighton earned a standing ovation from the home crowd for their efforts, including being applauded from the field by the Baggies player-manager, Johnny Giles. Mullery beamed afterwards, “What a magnificent performance. Nobody can say we nicked it. We should have won by a lot more goals – we want Manchester United at home in the next round.”
It wasn’t quite United in round four, but the draw was nearly as good as it sent Derby County to the Goldstone. The Rams had won the league in 1974 and 1972 and reached the last four of the European Cup in 1973, but again the Albion excelled against top division opponents, drawing 1-1 at the Goldstone after Ward netted against his home-town team to earn a replay at the Baseball Ground.
That’s where the giant killing stopped, a 2-1 defeat ending Brighton’s interest in the League Cup but their run in the competition pointed to the Seagulls as a coming force in English football under Mullery. Three years and two promotions later and the Albion were competing on level terms with the likes of Derby, Ipswich and West Brom in Division One. It was quite the ride.
