Singing in the rain: A family feud for our 66-year-old season ticket holder

Well, what an evening that was at the Amex. It was terrific to watch Brighton do battle with Arsenal as the wind sped at gusts reportedly as high as 65mph and swirling rain came down like stair rods. Proper football weather, some might say.

This is an exciting fixture in our family as the wife’s side are – and always will be – staunch Arsenal followers. My wife, her late father who was born in 1915, and his father before him were all Arsenal fans.

We do not have a detailed family history, but it is safe to assume that her granddad would have been there right back when the Gunners joined the Football League in 1893. With this in mind, I had to watch what I said in the lead up to the game.

There were other slight complications whilst getting ready for the fixture. Our dear little puppy had to have an operation three days before the game, so we needed to find someone to nurse him whilst we were at the Amex.

Once that was in place, rainwear was donned and we set off. Not that rainwear was much good; we still ended up absolutely drowned going from our car to catch the train, then even wetter from Falmer Station to the East Stand Upper entrance.

I thought twice about buying a programme from my usual spot on the way up the hill, knowing it would be nothing more than paper-mache by the time we got into the ground.

My first stop on entering the East Upper is always the gents. As I walked in this time, I was confronted with several young men carrying out what looked like some sort of ballet moves up against the wall in the toilet.

After I did what I intended to do in the gents, I looked over my shoulder intrigued and continued to see these young men hopping on one leg and using the wall for support.

Then all became clear. Every 30 seconds, they would use their spare hand to hit the wall hand dryer whilst their other hand held up their leg. They were drying their trousers having been soaked by the rain.

“Great idea guys”, I said to them as I left. I did not mention that they appeared to be ballet dancing however, thinking that may not have gone down too well.

Now with a programme, the biggest hot dog I have had in a long while and the famous Albion wine gums, it was off to take a pew in a stadium where the wind was swirling like a tornado.

Despite the rain, the pitch looked absolutely fantastic. Much credit should go to the Albion ground staff for the superb work they do on the playing surface.

I always love the pre-game hoe down and get into the music being played. There was a notable absentee this week though.

Why did we did not hear Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline? Perhaps the intellectual property rights have caught up with the club? Will we have to wait and see?

A few Arsenal players popped their heads out from the tunnel early on, thought better of it and jogged back inside. I must say I did not blame them.

The first brave guys from the Albion to warm up were, as usual, our three goalkeepers led by Robert Sanchez. It was interesting to watch him place long kicks down the pitch whilst warming up, taking the wind drift into account. He was so accurate.

Before the game started there was a sign of respect and appreciation paid to the late Roger Hunt, who passed away very recently. He was of course a Liverpool great amongst others and a member of Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 World Cup Squad.

It was clear the Arsenal fans were in terrific voice and were making more noise than the North Stand. When you sit at the side of the pitch, you can get a good idea where most of the noise is coming from.

I think we can all do better on the atmosphere front, even if it did improve once the game kicked off and the North began to liven up.

Our family tension was livening up too as John Moss prepared to blow his whistle for kick-off. Not daring to show her true colours thank goodness, my dear wife sat there quite quietly with her hood up, mask on and scared to look as the Albion applied pressure to the Gunners.

Leandro Trossard took a heavy tumble as early as the third minute, just outside the Arsenal 18-yard-box at the south end of the ground. Mr Moss eventually stopped play so Trossard could be treated.

The Albion appeared more determined than normal to get ahead with at least half a dozen good chances in the first half. None of those could put Brighton forward though.

Instead, we were left to raise a smile when Arsenal were awarded a free kick in the middle of the pitch with around 29 minutes played.

Neal Maupay spotted that Mr Moss had dropped his tin of white spray used to mark where the ball should be placed or a wall should stand.

Maupay duly picked it up and marked the ground where Arsenal’s free kick should be taken, unbeknown to the referee. When he then handed the tin back to Mr Moss, he had one of his great smiles on his face. Despite the howling gales and swirling rain, Maupay was at least enjoying himself out there.

Halfway was reached and as we know it was 0-0. Nobody had managed to put the ball in the onion bag, to coin a phrase used on a weekly basis by BBC Sussex commentator Warren Aspinall.

The second half seemed to really fly by. The Albion players, for me, were outstanding. To single out a couple, man-of-the-match Marc Cucurella showed fantastic potential and skill.

Shane Duffy again and Lewis Dunk made us look strong at the back and dangerous from set pieces, especially Duffy who had a couple of headers narrowly miss. Dan Burn did so well keeping Bukayo Saka under control, even if Burn could not outrun the England international.

Arsenal had a couple of chances in the second half, the most memorable of which came when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went around Robert Sanchez.

Duffy though played a blinder. He was not to know that the offside flag was going to be raised, producing a great tackle to prevent Aubameyang doing what he does best in an opponent’s goalmouth.

Amongst those players who missed chances over the 90 minutes for Brighton were Trossard, Maupay, Cucurella, Burn, Adam Lallana and Dunk and Duffy as already mentioned.

Even though it finished Brighton 0-0 Arsenal, it was such an exciting game to watch as an Albion supporter. Not so much my other half, who had her head in her hands on several occasions.

She even said at one point, “My granddad would turn in his grave if he was watching this performance from Arsenal.

Thankfully, the rain stopped as the full time whistle blew and queuing for a train home became easier to cope with. And at least those of us waiting to leave Falmer were doing so with a full set of teeth.

According to the Adrian Kajumba of the Daily Mail, Arsenal defender Gabriel reappeared on the Amex pitch long after the final whistle to search the penalty area for a tooth he had lost during this game.

Not only was this not the first time this had happened to poor Gabriel, but the previous occasion was also when he played against Brighton apparently. Let us hope he can get into a dentist this week, unlike many of the population!