I’ll have no nails left if Brighton make it all the way to Wembley
Brighton against Newcastle United in the FA Cup was one of the most hard-fought, tense games I have seen of late. My finger nails barely exist having been bitten off through nervousness. And it is the only the fifth round. They will not survive if the Albion make it all the way to Wembley again.
After Nottingham Forest beat Ipswich Town on penalties on Monday night, it is those Tricky Trees who Brighton will host with a semi final place up for the grabs.
I have only ever been to Wembley once, for the Manchester United game two seasons ago. How I would dearly love a second visit.
The idea of facing Forest does not scare me, even though we all know what happened at the City Ground last time! As Sir Winston Churchill used to say, Keep Buggering On.
The Albion really have kept buggering on since that 7-0 loss. The effort and determination has been superb and seen Brighton win five games in a row.
Prove for me that the club is on the right track and stilling heading upwards. If European football or reaching another FA Cup semi final does not happen this season, it will certainly not be due to a lack of effort. In any case, we can look to the future with confidence that both of those aims might be achieved sometime soon.
It was a bright and sunny Spring day for those Albion faithful who made the 696-mile round trip to Tyneside. The skies were blue with wispy white clouds.
Not that Brighton fans would have known that when setting off in the early hours of Sunday morning whilst it was pitch black to make the early-afternoon kick off.
For those of us who could not afford to travel to St James’ Park, we had a number of options to stay up-to-date. The game was live on ITV, BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Five Live.
I watched all the ITV build up. It had a heavy Newcastle bias, as you may expect. There was a feature on Eddie Howe, who in two weeks time will look to become the first manager to win silverware for the Magpies since 1955 when the Magpies take on Liverpool in the League Cup final. The same year I was born.
Newcastle were given a big boost before kick off with Alexander Isak declared fit to play. Isak can be a real danger and was part of a strong side named by Newcastle. Although not quite strong enough in the end.
Isak almost opened the scoring early but his downward header at the far post was cleared by Adam Webster. Our old friend Dan Burn then forearm smashed Joao Pedro on the edge of the box.
Fabian Hurzeler was not impressed and the wind was clearly taken out of Pedro’s sails for a moment or too. Referee Anthony Taylor gave nothing.
It all went tits up for the Albion midway through the first half. Yankubu Minteh chased back to take on Tino Livramento in the penalty area, taking him out from behind.
Mr Taylor was right there for a perfect view of a clear penalty. Isak clattered the spot kick into the top corner. “Oh God,” I thought as Newcastle fans began to find their voice, making things even harder. A bigger wobble was surely coming? But no.
Minteh made up for conceding the penalty by equalising just before half time. Ideally fed by Pedro, he raced away and beat Martin Dubravka with perhaps the slightest of touches off a defender.
It was a goal I got to celebrate twice. Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall on the radio are always a couple of minutes ahead of the pictures coming through Sky Go on the computer.
Half time came and I took the opportunity to put the kettle on and have a breather. It had been relentless stuff so far.
Johnny told us the temperature was starting to drop from the barmy 10 degrees it had been at kick off. This, however, was not matched by what happened on the pitch as things become even more heated over the next 75 minutes of football.
Brighton started the second half well. Pedro pickpocketed a Newcastle defender and got a shot away saved by Dubravka.
The Magpies were starting to tire by this point as errors began creeping it at the back, allowing the Albion to take a slight upper hand.
Newcastle though still remained a threat. Jack Hinshelwood took a shot from Isak straight into the stomach for a fantastic block. Joe Willock then somehow missed a real sitter of a header, unmarked from six yards.
Next it was Brighton’s turn to attack. Pervis Estupinan and Kaoru Mitoma worked well together. Mitoma sent a beautifully weight ball across the face of goal without a yellow shirt to pop it into the net.
The longer it remained level, the quieter the home fans became. You could even hear the 1,200-odd Albion supporters chanting above 50,000 Magpies followers. What an effort from that away section high in the Gods.
An incident-packed final 10 minutes saw no goals but two red cards, meaning it would be 10 against 10 going into extra time.
Isak was flagged offside but neither Jan Paul van Hecke nor Antony Gordon seemed to realise. Gordon was losing the fight for the ball with Van Hecke and so decided to use his fist to hit the Brighton player in the head.
Mr Taylor was again in a great position to see it all. He showed Gordon a red card and quite rightly so, meaning Gordon will now be suspended for the League Cup final.
As Captain Mainwaring would say in Dad’s Army… stupid boy. There are rules to the game and one is do not hit an opponent in the head.
The Albion desperately tried to make the most of their man advantage to win the game before extra time was needed. But it was not long until that advantage disappeared when a dodgy foul by Tariq Lamptey earned him a second yellow card.
Newcastle still found time to put the ball in the back of the net with what might have been virtually the last kick of the game.
Fabian Schar volleyed home but after a VAR check, Mr Taylor announced to the stadium over the Tannoy system there would be no goal for offside against Newcastle number five.
Into extra time and a rocket of a shot from substitute Diego Gomez forced Dubravka into a brilliant save. The two sides were tiring towards the end and that seemed to make penalties an inevitable outcome.
But then Brighton found a winner in the 114th minute. Danny Welbeck went through and coolly lifted the ball over Dubravka. My settee took a battering, the away fans belted out “Ooooh Danny Welbeck” and even My Albion TV commentator Rob Dugmore lost his usual neutrality.
That left six minutes in which the fingers barely left the mouth. One moment in particular had hearts in mouth when Burn missed the far post by a foot or so.
The Albion though survived. Bring on Forest… I fancy Brighton to get their revenge.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
