At least the referee in the currency exchange didn’t do anyone over

Before flying home from Sydney to Gatwick last week, I decided to visit a currency exchange on Pitt Street to wave goodbye to my unspent Australian and New Zealand dollars.

It is amazing that you can fly right around the world with only a few minimal notes and coins in your pocket for emergencies, what with everything being tap on card these days. Life is so much easier than it ever used to be.

Wearing my Albion shirt, I approached the exchange and a charming Aussie bloke called George in his booth. Can you guess what happened next?

“Crikey!” he said. “You must be a Brighton fan with that shirt on!” To my amazement, George was both a football enthusiast and a qualified referee.

I chatted to him about football, the Albion and meeting someone onboard the cruise ship Royal Princess, whose son was friends with ex-Seagull and current Socceroo number one Maty Ryan.

George then gave me a very reasonable exchange rate, meaning that for the first time in a long while I did not end up feeling done over by a referee.

This made a nice change, especially ahead of Brighton visiting Spurs. No Albion fan is likely to forget the events of April 2023 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a hurry, the scandalous refereeing performance and all those PGMOL apologies which followed.

The interaction with George is why I like wearing Albion colours on holiday. It opens up doors to conversations you may never otherwise have.

Some 22 hours on an aircraft followed, including a rather rushed change at Dubai Airport after a medical emergency held up our departure from Sydney.

I was able to watch some live football whilst flying back to the UK. With only 165 passengers onboard the Airbus 360 for the Dubai to London leg, there was plenty of room to spread out with an entire row to myself.

Jetlag has since proven a struggle, showing it is true that it impacts you more as you get older. But I did manage to remain awake throughout the BBC Radio Sussex commentary provided of Spurs v Brighton by our faithful team of Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall.

Earlier in the week, I found myself wishing that South Korea would progress to the final of the Asian Cup. This would have meant Son Heung-min being out of the equation for the Albion’s trip to North London.

However, it was not to be. A shock semi final defeat to Jordan meant Son was available for Spurs, leaving me with a nagging feeling his presence would come to haunt Brighton.

Little did I know that said nagging feeling would turn into Son playing a part in a 95th minute and 30 second winner for Tottenham.

Roberto De Zerbi had been due to serve a touchline ban against Spurs after collecting too many yellow cards. Knowing he would not be allowed in the dugout, De Zerbi opted to undergo what sounded like invasive dental surgery.

That left the extremely competent Andrea Maldera at the helm. BBC Sussex listeners were informed De Zerbi would be in close touch with the bench from his convalescence in Italy.

It all sounded rather painful and left me hoping my own visit to the dentist the following Monday would be much easier than De Zerbi’s.

The question now was who would get the crown between Spurs and Brighton? Which name would be on everyone’s lips? Would anyone do enough to earn themselves a plaque?

No sooner had referee Samuel Barrott blown his whistle to start the game than the Albion went on the attack. Danny Welbeck found himself checking back from the right wing and getting a curler of a shot away.

Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario made a flying save to prevent Welbeck giving Brighton the lead inside the first minute.

The Albion had real hunger to win possession from Spurs and then keep the ball. That led to some impressive one-two football between Welbeck and Facundo Buonanotte in the box.

Welbeck was eventually brought down right under the nose of Mr Barrott, winning the Albion a penalty. As Spurs protested the decision, Richarlison waved his finger right under the nose of the referee.

Such dissent could have been deemed worthy of a yellow card under current rules – or in the future, a blue card perhaps? It would not be the last time a Tottenham player was allowed to get away with dissent.

James Maddison was later booked for a bad tackle and then sarcastically clapped Mr Barrott. Maddison was lucky to stay on the pitch at a time when referees are meant to be clamping down on dissent. Would, say, Lewis Dunk have got away with it?

Anyway, Pascal Gross stepped up to take the penalty in the absence of Joao Pedro. There was no mistake. Gross went left, Vicario went right and Brighton led in the 17th minute.

Spurs were sure to fight back and it did not take long for a through ball to put Richarlison away on goal with only Jason Steele to beat.

Steele pushed his inflate button, making himself three times bigger than normal to pull off a great one-on-one save.

Maddison skirted the far post with a curling effort and Kaoru Mitoma on his return from Asian Cup duty got a shot away from the left which Vicario did well to keep out.

It was end-to-end stuff, as many had expected from two attack-minded teams. Steele made another fantastic save, this time from Dejan Kulusevski.

Jan Paul van Hecke then blocked a Richarlison shot as the Albion made it into half time with their lead intact.

What would happen during Brighton’s half time team talk, I wondered? Would De Zerbi speak to the players via loudspeaker or video stream?

Or would it be left to Maldera to relay the instructions and advice De Zerbi was undoubtedly sharing from Italy?

Tottenham came out for the second half all guns blazing, eventually leading to a 61st minute equaliser. The move started with a Kulusevski pass down the right to Pape Matar Sarr, who carried the ball into the box.

Sarr shot and although Dunk averted the first attempt, the Albion captain’s sliding block came back off the post and straight to Sarr. He was left to put the rebound into the back of the net.

The goal was checked for offside but VAR did not find in the Albion’s favour. Sarr was booked for his celebration, which was a small consolation.

There were now 29 minutes left for someone to find a winner. Ansu Fati replaced Adam Lallana and nearly made the difference, shooting just a fraction wide.

Fati next set up Buonanotte, who narrowly missed another chance. It was beginning to feel like one of those days where nothing goes the Albion’s way.

Benicio Baker-Boaitey was next to go close within a couple of minutes of replacing Billy Gilmour. And then it happened, the moment I had been worried about since South Korea were eliminated from the Asian Cup.

Richarlison sent Son away down the left and his cross was tapped in at the far post by Brennan Johnson with 30 seconds left to play.

It was heartbreak for the Albion, who had played so well other than taking their eye off the ball in the last minute. Such are the fine margins in the Premier League.

Still, Brighton remain in ninth place on 35 points and plenty still to play for. The heartbreak need not last long, and hopefully neither does De Zerbi’s tootache.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony

Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.