Supporter first impressions on new Brighton fan zone The Terrace

There was plenty of excitement around the Amex Stadium ahead of the Albion against Nottingham Forest. Not just because it had all the ingredients of a classic FA Cup quarter final. But also because the new Brighton fan zone called The Terrace was opening for the first time.

I arrived over three hours before kick off to have a look around this wonderful new addition to the stadium. As I gazed at it in awe, a huge roar went up.

This could not be because Crystal Palace had just beaten Fulham to book their own FA Cup semi final spot, I thought to myself.

Unless every Brighton supporter inside the fan zone is already very drunk thanks to The Terrace opening a long time before kick off.

There were quite a few merry people in there. But the roar was nothing to do with Palace or Fulham, of course. It was because of a brief, complete power outage, as I was told by Albion head of media Paul Camillin when eventually managing to squeeze inside.

Teething problems are of course to be expected when a 3,000 capacity facility opens for the first time. The club had even rushed to get everything ready once the FA Cup draw handed us a home tie.

The original plan was to open for the midweek game against Aston Villa. With people working more and drinking less on a Wednesday night, it would have been a much gentler introduction.

So, thank you to the Brighton for throwing themselves in at the deep end and getting the fan zone up and running a week ahead of schedule.

The place was packed downstairs and so I decided to resort to flashing the old Amex card to get access to the exclusive upstairs area.

Everyone else though had the same idea with a massive queue. I grizzled for a minute before leaving The Terrace and resorting to the faithful fish and chip wagon. When I realised it was not in its normal spot, I nearly wet myself.

In a blind panic, I began asking stewards what had happened to it. One eventually directed me to the carpark behind the South Stand. And there it was. Normal service resumed.

The Terrace is of course just one part of a £40 million upgrade to the Amex. Yes, forty million. Capacity is going up by 800 to a total of 32,500.

Away supporters are to be moved from the South Stand to the South West Corner in an attempt to improve atmosphere and help the players by having them kick towards Albion fans at both ends of the ground.

The Seagulls Superstore is also being refurbished. It will be spread over two floors, allowing even more Brighton shirts to hang. What a great idea.

The club museum is to be moved to a location in the city centre. If you never went to the museum at the Amex, make sure you visit the new site. It is real eye opener into the history of the club with lots of memorabilia.

I then returned to The Terrace on Wednesday night before the Villa game. It was less busy, as you might expect. Changes to how drink and food are collected also appeared to have made a difference.

Once the fan zone beds in properly, I expect it will add a great deal to the whole experience of watching Brighton. We are so lucky to have an owner like Mr Tony Bloom, willing to invest in facilities like The Terrace.

Whilst Brighton fans were busy enjoying the new fan zone on Saturday evening, anyone tuning in for Pointless on BBC One were instead greeted by the Match of the Day team live from the Amex. Gary Lineker, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and our very own Glenn Murray.

I like to use cup games and friendlies to try out different seats at the Amex. So, for the visit of Forest, the wife and I swapped East Stand Upper for West Stand Lower, Block I. Dead inline with the North Stand goal line.

It was a great view – and nice to be slightly lower and closer to the players. I loved watching Pervis Estupinan swinging in his corners from what was almost a television viewpoint angle.

Before kick off, I thought Brighton might sneak a 2-1 win. Revenge for the 7-0 defeat Forest two months ago was surely enough to fire the players up.

The Albion were unbeaten since that day with six wins in a row and a draw at champions Manchester City. It was all pointing towards a Brighton win and another trip to Wembley. How wrong can you be?

The highlights of the first half amounted to be a good save from Bart Verbruggen and a shot just wide from Yasin Ayari.

Carlos Baleba also managed to snap a photographer’s camera positioned behind the goal into two pieces with a powerful rocket just wide of the post. Not the snap that photographer wanted or expected.

Brighton were the better team in the second half. Georginio Rutter drove a shot across goal from a very tight angle. Both Jan Paul van Hecke and Jack Hinshelwood had near misses with headers.

None of this as good for the blood pressure. Neither was referee Peter Bankes awarding Forest a penalty when Kaoru Mitoma was alleged to have pulled down Elliot Anderson.

VAR referred Mr Bankes to the monitor and the decision was reversed. However, we had no idea what was going on in the stadium. Mr Bankes announced his VAR findings but the audio did not come through in all parts of the stadium.

I did laugh when seeing later than some Brighton fans behind the monitor waved cash at Mr Bankes as he watched back the replay.

With nothing separating the teams after 90 minutes, it was off to extra time. Adam ‘The Wall’ Webster had been struggling and so on came Lewis Dunk.

The Albion had good chances to win it in the additional 30 minutes. Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels made an extraordinary save to tip a Diego Gomez header over the bar.

Joao Pedro put the ball in the back of the net right at the death when Estupinan headed back across goal. The flag quickly went up though as Pedro knocked it home.

And so the tie came down to penalties. Dunk won the toss and opted to take the kicks in front of the North Stand. Home advantage here though made no difference as the Albion were beaten 4-3 in the shootout.

A disappointing way for the Albion’s FA Cup journey to come to an end. But we didn’t concede seven goals against Forest, so everyone can stop going on about the 7-0 now. And at least we had The Terrace for Brighton fans to drown their sorrows in afterwards.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony