The Great Escape
Brighton& Hove Albion 1-0 Carlisle United
Saturday 6 May 2000
My trip down to Hove for the Great Escape II started earlier than most, since I had arranged to spend the weekend with a friend, Julia, whom I had met through ICQ.
I left work on the Thursday evening and dashed to the railway station to catch the train down, having booked my ticket through The Trainline. The only hiccup was that the train I was due to catch for the middle leg no longer ran which meant it was gone 01:00 by the time I got to bed!!!
After a good lie in, Friday was spent relaxing with Julia and getting all excited about the events ahead! I mean the football match, of course! A light, healthy evening meal (pizza and garlic bread !-) set me up for the big event....
Saturday morning was spent wandering around the shops, and after a quick lunch, Julia dropped me off near the temporary B&HA ground. I met Kris in the pub next to the ground to give him his ticket and proceeded to have a couple of drinks with him and some B&HA fans. At about 14:20 we left the pub and made our way into the ground.
It was a torturous afternoon, notable for the hot sun, superb CUFC fans and very attractive female steward strategically placed in front of the CUFC fans to distract them from the events on the pitch.
All through the game, news came through from radios and mobile phones of the scores at the Chester and Shrewsbury matches. As it became clear in the afternoon that we were not going to win and that Shrewsbury were, all hopes were placed again in the hands of Peterborough and Barry Fry. How ironic that the manager who succombed us in our first AWS match, saved us in 1999 with Scarborough's defeat again held the key.
The atmosphere when it came through that Chester had lost 1-0 was electric, if we held out we were safe...... and so it was to be!!!!! How vital the SoS 2000 match against Chester City proved to be, equally so our win against them away from home!!!!
Sadly, there was some trouble after the match, but I avoided it as I made my way back to be picked up by Julia. We had a barbeque on the Saturday night, and I relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the evening and weekend safe in the knowledge that we were, well, safe.
Roll on next season, but please let it be better than the last three.....
As an aside, Julia and I really hit it off that weekend, and started dating. We continued to date until Julia dumped me later that year..... on the weekend that we next played at Brighton!! A very strange balance there to that relationship. Still, I never felt the buzz that I did with Clare when I met her the following year.
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