A five-a-side team comprised of legendary Brighton & Hove Albion and Blackburn Rovers players over the years.
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Graham Moseley (Goalkeeper)
Moseley was an apprentice at Ewood Park in the early 1970s. He only signed a professional contract with Rovers to enable the club to extract a £18,000 transfer fee from Derby County the following day in September 1971. Having played for the Rams in their FA Cup Semi-Final 2-0 defeat against Manchester United at Hillsborough in 1976, this agile keeper was determined to make it to Wembley with Brighton. He pulled out all the stops in a heroic performance for the Seagulls in the FA Cup Semi-Final against Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury in April 1983. His best form came a couple of years later when he was ever-present in the 1984/85 campaign, capturing the Albion ‘Player of the Year’ award.
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Bernard Gallagher (Defender)
Best known as an Aston Villa left-back in the late 1980s, Bernard had a one-month loan spell at Blackburn Rovers from November 1990. As a free agent, he arrived at the Goldstone for a trial in October 1991, making his debut at Ewood Park for his new side. A return to form led to Bernie captaining the Seagulls on occasion before losing his place to Ian Chapman in 1992/93. Sadly, Bernie died in August 2011, aged 44. His former Villa manager Graham Taylor said, “Bernie was reliable, wanted to do well and was never going to cause any trouble. He was a manager’s dream. He wanted to do his best and he wasn’t going to cause me any problems on or off the pitch. There are a number of players who don’t get recognised in football and Bernie was one of those. He would come out and give us a seven out of ten performance every week.”Dave Turner (Midfielder)
A consistent, dynamic performer who amassed 338 appearances for Albion after signing from Newcastle in a £4500 deal in December 1963. That month, he made his Brighton debut in a 2-0 victory over Darlington at the Goldstone. Archie Macaulay’s Albion won the Fourth Division championship the following 1964/65 season. Five years later, another promotion looked on the cards, this time under Freddie Goodwin. As Turner said in Goal! Magazine, "I’m pretty confident we can go up, but so can any of the top ten at the moment. We’ve been playing well all season, but early on we just couldn’t get the right results. Everyone was getting a bit disappointed. Then everyone started getting stuck in a bit more – it began to pay off. We had a long undefeated run in the league after November and conceded only one goal in nine games." Brighton finished fifth in 1970, but gained promotion two years later. At the end of the 1971/72 success, Turner joined Blackburn Rovers before hanging up his boots.
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Pat Hilton (Midfielder)
As an 18-year-old, Pat made his Brighton debut in a 2-0 victory over Luton in February 1973, a result that halted a record run of 13 successive defeats for the club. That October, Hilton scored the winner against Walsall with a fine header from Lammie Robertson’s cross. It gave Brian Clough his first win as Brighton manager. However, the young striker’s Albion career was cut short as he was sacked, along with Mick Brown and Terry Norton, for damaging windows at the Goldstone Ground on his 20th birthday in May 1974. Nowadays, Pat works as a coach in the United States.
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Ken Beamish (Striker)
A tall, swashbuckling striker who became an instant hit after signing for Albion from Tranmere in March 1972, for £25,000 plus Alan Duffy on transfer deadline day. Looking back at the transfer, Ken recalls, “Brighton were very much on the up and the south coast had great appeal. When you add in the fact that I was also doubling my wages, then it made for a very exciting move for me.” He quickly repaid the club, hitting six goals in just 12 starts at the end of the 1971/72 season. In addition, he set up John Templeman’s goal against Rochdale that clinched promotion. After Beamish joined Blackburn in 1974, he was involved in another promotion success, winning the Third Division championship in his first season at Ewood Park.
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Frank Stapleton (Manager)
Stapleton scored the first goal in Brighton’s debut in the top flight in August 1979. Sadly, he was playing for Arsenal! As Brighton’s stay in Division One ended four years later, Frank also scored Manchester United’s equaliser against the Seagulls in the 1983 FA Cup Final. His career also took him to Ajax, Derby, Le Havre, Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield before becoming player-manager of Bradford City. Then in 1994, the Republic of Ireland international, then aged 38, played two matches for Liam Brady’s Brighton side. In September 2014, he was appointed assistant manager of Jordan, working alongside Ray Wilkins.[h=3]ALBION V blackburn
[/h]SaturDAY 8TH November, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V fulham
[/h]saturday 29th november, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]Albion v millwall
[/h]friDAY 12TH decEMber, kick-off 7:45pm
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