Setbacks are all part of the Brighton journey
Chin up Albion fans, this is all part of the journey. Sunday at Wembley featured bitter disappointment, the worst way to lose a big FA Cup semi final and most gutting of all, heartbreak for Solly March.
He did not deserve that and it should not detract from his incredible season. The very best players in the world miss in penalty shootouts and no-one should be critical of March. What incredible pressure he was under.
The Albion did not give their best performance at Wembley – neither did United – and it was a damp, miserable day in a claustrophobic stadium which seems to stifle atmosphere.
But let us never forget how lucky we were to be there, again. How Grimsby Town fans would have loved that occasion had they beaten the Albion in the quarter finals.
And how close Brighton were not so long ago to the fate of Rochdale, relegated this week from the Football League after 112 years.
Scunthorpe United, Yeovil Town and Torquay United are all set to disappear from the National League too; clubs we faced (and often lost against) on a regular basis.
I met a Mitoma fan on the concourse at Wembley. They wanted to know how to get to the club shop at the Amex this week to buy a shirt, before flying back to Japan after two days in the UK.
How mad would that story sound to anyone watching Brighton in League One at Withdean 20 years ago? We are a club with global appeal now.
Not only that, but everyone is starting to recognise the Albion’s quality. We went into our second FA Cup semi final in four years as the favourites against one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Managers and pundits alike rates us as one of the best teams in England and in Europe’s top 20. We have a team, a recruitment strategy and a manager widely admired and envied.
Even with defeat to United and coming away from a tough game at Nottingham Forest with nothing, these are still the best of times to support Brighton.
So much has been achieved already with the prospect of more to come. From a first Premier League top 10 finish last year to a realistic chance of European qualification this season.
The club is in profit and boasting an array of stars coveted by our vastly wealthier competitors, not least World Cup winner Alexis MacAllister.
A crowded fixture list lies ahead and we are starting to see players fatigued and more prone to injury. But what an opportunity for teenagers like Julio Enciso, Evan Ferguson and Facundo Buonanotte to make (even more) of a name for themselves.
Ferguson has scored goals for fun. Enciso came to the fore against Bournemouth and Chelsea. And Buonanotte marked his full Premier League debut with a goal against Forest.
Let us enjoy this last month of an incredible, high scoring, rewarding, sometimes frustrating but always dramatic season. It is something both the team and us as fans have earned and deserve.
Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC
