Bristol City vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

Bristol City v Brighton

Sky Bet Championship

Venue: Ashton Gate
Date: Saturday 5th November 2016
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Referee: Darren Bond
Assistants: Nicholas Hopton, David Avent
Fourth official: Simon Hooper


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  [*=left]Bristol City's only goalscorer in their last seven league games against Brighton at Ashton Gate was Scott Brown in September 2006.
  [*=left]The Seagulls have won five of their last six league games against the Robins, drawing the other.
  [*=left]83% of the Robins' league goals this season (19 of 23) have been scored in the second half, the highest percentage in the division.
  [*=left]Brighton have only lost one of their last 14 away league games (excluding play offs), winning eight and drawing five.
  [*=left]Albion's Glenn Murray has scored in two of his previous three league appearances against Bristol City.

Dick Swiveller said:

The ref from Cardiff away last season.

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Dick Swiveller said:

The ref from Cardiff away last season.

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Surf's Up said:

Hope it doesnt rain - we dont like rain in the west.

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Dick Swiveller said:

The ref from Cardiff away last season.

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Don Tmatter said:

Solly in squad? Not listed in U23's squad v Leicester whereas KLL & Towell are.

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Good day everyone,

In the 2011 census Brighton & Hove had a population of 273,400 souls. Following the same 2011 census Bristol had a population of 428,100 and if one adds Kingswood it rises to 468,834. Lee Johnson made the remark this week that Brighton, with a 'similar population' , was our yardstick and were perhaps a couple of windows ahead of us in their progression. A little poetic licence on the population difference is all well and good, for effect, but are we really only one to two transfer windows behind a club such as Albion?

Having lived in south London for a number of years and, like the rest of us, being a football nut I usually needed my fix of the beautiful game each Saturday. In the event I could not make it west to the fairest city of them all I always looked at the likes of Palace or Brighton or even Gillingham or Sutton and Bromley for some action. I went to that old charming yet wrinkled lady that was the Goldstone Ground and also the truly awful Withdean 'Athletic' Ground. What is remarkable about football fans, any football fans, is putting up with miserable conditions not just for a few months or years but even decades. We all have that bond of suffering largely in silence letting off the steam of our everyday lives inside, quite frankly, a cesspit of a worshipful arena. Albion fans probably felt a bit like Gas fans do today; bouncing around different venues and, in the latter case, still dreaming. Brighton, on the other hand, are starting to live that dream now. The Goldstone's record attendance was nearly 37,000 against Fulham in 1958. That the owners of the club sold the ground in 1997 without consulting the fans and with no venue to move to must have been a real low point for the followers. The days of genuine plus twenty thousand crowds was seemingly gone. The Withdean, as I recall, could hold little more than five thousand. It was a bleak time in more ways than one; they first ground shared with Gillingham some 70 miles away.

Brighton beat Doncaster in the penultimate match of the 96/7 season needing a win or draw at Edgar Street to stay in the Football League.. more ways than one. They drew with Hereford 1-1 and saved themselves from utter humiliation. How they have risen since then. From the then hated Bill Archer, chairman and owner, to Tony Bloom. Folks, this is a British owned club, like us, a dying breed none other. The likes of Steve Lansdown and Tony Bloom should and are regularly saluted by fans like us and long may it continue.

The match today is, to my mind, a coming together of two men who have great respect for each other and indeed when Lee Johnson says Albion are our 'model' he means it not in a way to belittle ourselves, for that would be inaccurate a comparison given our myriad histories of relative glory and turmoil, but he says it because of the respect each club owner has for the other and how we are, in many ways, developing a sustainable model much like theirs.

I fully expect this to be a fiercely competitive match today, much like the game with Newcastle, and in the same vein one I do not expect much from. That said, we still have a team that is raw, new and somewhat of an unknown quantity even to those of us who watch them week in and week out; do we yet know how far this team can rise? Likely not. Perhaps we can win, anything is possible, and it is only 11 v 11 on the day. Perhaps I will be cautious and suggest a lockout 1-1 draw.

I am simply delighted that I shall be attending only my second game of the season following the opening day thriller against Wigan. I do hope our average attendance of the season tops Wolves and we move up to 8th in the rankings but I would happily sacrifice that for moving to 4th with a win. Those who stay away will likely miss a thriller in the event.

Should I try a pastie? Mum, being Cornish, of course makes the best pasties in the land so that might just be a mistake.

Enjoy the game everyone.

UTC.

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Miximate said:

Its fate, we'll be fine today. I saw two magpies last week whilst out with the mutt, saluted and said 'good morning; to them and we went on to win, Same thing this morning whilst out with the mutt!!

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Taybha said:

what happens if you fail to acknowledge magpies ? my old man used to bang on about saluting them .

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Taybha said:

what happens if you fail to acknowledge magpies ? my old man used to bang on about saluting them .

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