RIP Adrian Thorne, 5 goal hero on the night Brighton won Division 3 South
Good strikers homegrown by the Albion have been a rarity through the club’s 121 year history. Adrian Thorne was one of them, making the passing at the age of 84 of a man who wrote himself into the Brighton history books particularly sad.
Thorne was 20-years-old and playing in only his seventh competitive game when Watford visited the Goldstone Ground in April 1958.
Victory would see the Albion crowned Division Three South champions, securing their first piece of silverware in the Football League and promotion to the second tier of English football for the first time.
Manager Billy Lane was without leading striker Dave Sexton. The Albion boss therefore turned to young Adrian Thorne to fill the void, a move richly vindicated when Thorne went berserk and scored five times as Brighton hammered Watford 6-0.
Thorne claimed a perfect hat-trick within nine minutes of kick off. His first arrived via his right foot after five minutes. His second was a header on eight minutes. His third, a left footed thunderbolt just 60 seconds later.
Skipper Glen Wilson added a fourth from the penalty spot with 35 minutes played and Thorne then notched his personal fourth and Brighton’s fifth with the goal of the game, a swerving 30 yard run which was ended with a thumping effort.
This was all too much for the Goldstone crowd to take and as the half time whistle blew with the Albion 5-0 up, the crowd surged onto the pitch to mob their goal scoring hero.
Among all the mayhem, Adrian Thorne had to be given a police escort from the pitch as the Brighton and Watford players tried to escape the joyous chaos. And there were still 45 minutes left to play.
The pitch was eventually cleared and the second half was a much more subdued affair. Only one more Albion goal was to come, Thorne hooking home a Wilson free kick a minute from time.
He and Jack Doran remain the only two men in an exclusive club of players to have scored five times in a single game for Brighton. The closest anyone has got in the past 30 years is Glenn Murray, who notched four at Wycombe Wanderers in 2009.
Thorne was born in Hove in August 1937 and attended Brighton, Hove & Sussex Grammar School (now BHASVIC). He had been spotted by the Albion playing in the Sussex County League as a 17-year-old for Brighton Old Grammarians at the nearby Greyhound Stadium, signing for the Seagulls in August 1954.
He cut his teeth in the reserves before fulfilling his two years of mandatory national service. It was actually while he was in the Army that he made his Brighton debut in January 1958, making the short trip from his base in Colchester to Southend, where he scored in a 2-0 Albion win at Roots Hall.
Appearances were sporadic for Thorne over the next four months until Sexton was ruled out for the final three games of the campaign by injury.
Thorne’s five-goal haul saw him end the 1957-58 season as a Division Three South champion and with seven goals from seven appearances.
He continued to score at an impressive rate of better than one goal every other game for the Albion in Division Two. And yet despite his scoring record and the fact he was a huge fan favourite, Lane frequently dropped him from the starting XI.
Thorne was never given a run of more than four months in the side. He hit 10 goals in 16 matches in 1958-59, 13 goals in 32 games in 1959-60 and topped the Albion scoring charts with 14 from 29 appearances in 1960-61.
A better natural goal scorer you would struggle to find. Thorne arguably paid a price for his versatility. He could play anywhere across the front line, meaning he was often shunted from one position to another depending on where there was a gap.
Eventually, he tired of being dropped despite always delivering and handed in a transfer request. Just a month after being Brighton top scorer, Adrian Thorne was sold to Plymouth Argyle in June 1961 for £8,000. He left the Goldstone Ground with a record of 44 goals from 84 matches.
Thorne played just 11 league games in two-and-a-half years at Home Park before making the short transfer to Exeter City in December 1963.
Somewhat ironically, his debut for the Grecians came at the Goldstone on Boxing Day. Brighton had since tumbled from Division Two to Division Four thanks to back-to-back relegations.
Thorne showed the Albion what they were missed when scoring as Exeter won 2-1 in Hove. Exeter were promoted into Division Three at the end of the campaign with Thorne departing St James Park in June 1965 after nine goals in 41 appearances.
He went onto play for Leyton Orient, Cheltenham Town and Barnet before retiring to become a schoolteacher in Twickenham.
Those Brighton fans who can recall the late 1950s to this day argue that Thorne should have been given more of a chance at the Goldstone to fulfil his talent; a telling sign of his enduring popularity thanks to those five goals against Watford.
RIP, Adrian.
