Goodbye to new friends and hello to an old friend as Brighton are victorious and Dons bow out with heads held high

Saturday the 7^th January 2017

FA Cup Round Three

Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Milton Keynes Dons 0

It was the longest journey so far on the Road to Wembley from Scotland yesterday as I took in the Brighton v MK Dons match. Another 1006 miles racked up on the ‘Road’. It was a bitter sweet day on the south coast. I had to say a sad goodbye to some fantastic new friends from Milton Keynes but I was able to say hello again to an old friend from Stirling University. The Seagulls from Brighton progressed in the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory against the valiant Dons. This is how the day panned out.

When I dreamed that I would be cuddled by two birds in Brighton this is not what I had in mind!

Pre Match Communications: From the day the draw for round 1 was made 11 weeks ago I have been in constant contact with the Dons from Milton Keynes I am very much at home on their facebook forums and in turn the Dons fans have provided with me all sorts of stuff about their much misunderstood football club. Although the Dons cup campaign is over I will continue to contribute to their internet forums look forward to reading of their progress up the table in League One.

Brighton and Hove Albion fans too have been very generous in helping me understand more about their club. The Albion Roar twitter feed (@albionroar) has provided me with a lot of the detail concerning the history of the club and their links with Scotland. Through the magic of the internet I was able to hook up on facebook with Clifford Murray Vagnolini, the grandson of the Scots centre half in the Brighton team that won the 1910 Charity Shield.   9/10

Pre Match Pint: The pub of choice for the pre match pint was the Evening Star close to Brighton Station. A great wee pub with an olde-worldy feel to it. This was the pub of choice of my old pal, and now Brighton resident, Joe Black. Apparently the pub was named after an old Fripp and Eno album – so that works for me.

The Evening Star: A progressive pub in central Brighton

I sampled the Dark Star ‘Hophead’ beer and mighty fine it was too. According to the spiel ‘an extremely clean-drinking pale golden ale with a strong floral aroma and elderflower notes from the Cascade hops’. Ya beauty! So good I had to have a second pre match pint. If anyone is visiting the Amex for the first time I would recommend drinking in Brighton first and getting the train out to the ground as the beer drinking facilities on the concourse are a bit basic and overpriced. 9/10

Programme: All the same comments I made about the Charlton Athletic programme five weeks ago apply here too. The match day magazine was priced at £2.00. It was a fairly standard and relatively unimaginative publication for a club of Brighton’s size and history. Also there was only a minimal amount of reading in it. I flew back from Gatwick after the match and I was looking forward to something to read on the hour long plane flight. Thirty minutes into the flight I had finished reading the programme.

There was a good article about the Baldock brothers (Sam of the Seagulls and George of the Dons) but nothing about the magic of the FA Cup. This was a major surprise as Albion have an interesting FA Cup history and they also have a very good record in the third round of the competition in recent years. 4/10

Ground: The Amex is a very impressive, modern all seater football stadium. I particularly like the sweeping curving design. There are good catering facilities inside the ground although the food and drink is overpriced. With a capacity of more than 30,000 it looks and feels like a Premier Division ground.

The impressive Amex Stadium: Stewarded by Aliens

There may be an issue with access for disabled fans. I noted on the MK Dons fans facebook page this morning this post: “Although I am sound of limb, I have to say that the treatment of the ambulant disabled at Brighton today was nothing short of scandalous! Firstly the disabled visiting fans get no kind of half decent treatment, being made to walk over 1000 mtrs to the stadium from an overpriced car park , which had a head steward shrug his shoulders when I asked him how was a disabled fan meant to get to the ground! Secondly, the walkways were soaking wet with no signs apparent ! Those were the two main beefs in my mind! If that's how a team that aspires to reach the top level in football treats its fans, then god help them !” This comment certainly chimes with my own experience where we had to walk about 1k back to the overpriced car park and then sit in the car for 40 minutes before we could get out of the concourse. In short a great stadium but with some yet to be resolved infrastructure issues. 6/10

Atmosphere: The atmosphere in the MK Dons end was pretty good. The 750 visitors from Milton Keynes gave their favourites some great vocal encouragement. As I was in the away end it is impossible to guage what the atmosphere was like in the other parts of the ground. I suspect it would have been a bit soporific. For the fourth match in a row I have been in a very big ground with relatively few spectators in. The attendance yesterday was just over 11000 and the average attendance for a Brighton home league game is in excess of 27000. The gate yesterday was 59% down on the average. With the Seagulls attempting to fly into the Premier League and hence not prioritising the FA Cup and the manager stating in advance that he would be fielding a weakened team the attendance figure is understandable. However, it does not help to spark a rocking and rolling atmosphere. Also, the early goal for Brighton took some of the tension out of the tie 5/10

Scottishness: With the Seagulls manager seeing this match as an opportunity to ‘use the squad’ it was inevitable that Glaswegian Jamie Murphy would start. Murphy has been on the subs bench for the last few weeks and the highly rated winger needed game time. Jamie was the only Scot on the pitch yesterday and played well. He runs at defenders with pace and purpose and he linked up with colleagues in some slick Brighton passing moves. A more tenuous link with Bella Caledonia is that the opening goal was scored by ex Celtic Israeli international Beram Kayal.

Jamie Murphy on the ball yesterday

MK Dons did not have any Scots on the pitch but an unused sub was the 18 year old Scotland youth international Conor Furlong. Although he was not deployed yesterday the fact he was warming the bench is a positive indication that he is rated by the Dons management team. A young Scot to keep an eye on. The Dons have a number of Scots within their footballing community. I have previously met Scottish Dons fans and the Scots Dons photographer Tom Stewart. Yesterday I met the former Partick Thistle player and MK Dons Liaison Officer Gordon McNicol

Your blogger and ex-Jag Gordon McNicol at the Amex yesterday

Gordon is a well known face around Stadium MK and although he hung up his boots some years ago he still walks with the bow legged gait of the ex professional footballer. It was great to have a chat with Gordon yesterday. The main Scots connection between MK Dons and Scotland is of course the management team where Robbie Neilson and Stevie Crawford have been in charge for about five weeks now. By an amazing coincidence I was able to round off my time with the Dons with a quick chat with Robbie and Steve. At the departure gate at Gatwick for the 1945 flight to Edinburgh I found myself standing next to Stevie. Not being shy I engaged him in conversation and told him I thought that the Dons were a wee bit unlucky. He was not so sure explaining that they (Seagulls) started better and it was only in the second half that the Dons got the control they were looking for. Then we were joined by Robbie. Not one to miss an opportunity I told him I was a Hearts fan and was sorry to see him go and he thanked me for that. I asked him if he was enjoying his time at MK and he replied ‘Aye’ and quickly added ‘all we need to do now is start winning football games … and get a few more bodies in’. Dons fans should look out for some imminent arrivals in the transfer window – probably from north of the border. I wished them both luck. Very polite, friendly, quietly spoken, committed football men. They are a credit to themselves and to the Dons. I predict good times ahead for the MK Dons under their stewardship. 8/10

Entertainment:

This was a high quality football match played in a good spirit. Only two bookings testify to the fact that the teams were keen to play football rather than kick lumps out of each other. Both sides passed the ball well and players on both teams looked comfortable in possession. The underdog Dons matched their opponents in terms of possession and shots. The real difference was in the ‘shots on target’ stat where Brighton had double the number of strikes that tested the keeper. A 2-0 scoreline flatters the home side and the Dons could count themselves as a wee bit unlucky. The higher level of quality in the final third of the pitch was the decisive factor and the forward play by the Seagulls was more incisive.

Ex Celtic man Kayal opened the scoring for Brighton when he placed a shot from outside of the box just inside the post. The Dons keeper Martin appeared to see it late and made no real attempt to save it.

Hooping and hollering: Ex Celtic man Kayal celebrates opening the scoring

Both teams enjoyed long spells of possession without looking threatening in the first half although the Dons did create a few chances. Unfortunately for them they all fell to the skillful Reeves who had chosen FA Cup day to leave his shooting boots at home. Half time Seagulls 1 Dons 0.

In the second half the mercurial Chuks Aneke became more influential and the Dons created a few half chances with dangerous crosses flashing across the Brighton goalmouth. Chuks is built like a brick shithouse and has good close control. He could become the Dons talisman if he gets himself fully fit and chooses not to play with gloves on when the weather is mild.

The gloves are on! Chuks Aneke surrounded by a flock of Seagulls

Against the run of play Brighton doubled their advantage in the 72^nd minute. With the Dons defence caught napping a free header from 10 yards from Tomer Hemed settled the tie. Hemed later missed an absolute sitter, but a 3-0 scoreline would have been extremely harsh on the gallant Dons. Full time Seagulls 2 Dons 0  8/10

Match Day Catering: The pies on offer inside The Amex were the so-called ‘gourmet pies’. I think this is just a not-so-cunning excuse to charge a ridiculous amount of money for the traditional match day snack. I had a ‘steak and ale’ pie and it was great but I just can’t get used to paying more than a couple of quid for a pie. The price of £4.20 for a pie is scandalous. 6/10

Value for Money: The admission price of £12 was good value for an important FA Cup tie in good surroundings. I noted from the programme that league match prices start at £25 so congratulations to Brighton and Hove Albion for making the match more accessible. It is just a shame that so few turned up and given the history and romance of the FA Cup I find this hard to understand. 8/10

The je ne sais quoi factor: As has been the case so many times on the Road to Wembley from Scotland some highlights have nothing to do with the football. I really liked the idea of Brighton and Hove Albion hiring a young rock band to entertain fans arriving early before the kick off. These boys could play too.

Its only foot and ball but I like it!

The big highlight for me for this fixture was catching up with old friends. On the Friday night before the match I stopped over in Sussex with my old pal Derek Poots and his family and enjoyed a great meal and a few scoops

Derek Poots, Kay Poots, Emily Poots and Tim the rabid Brighton fan

Then on Saturday Adam Poots drove me in to central Brighton where Adam and I had a couple of pints with Joe Black. Joe and I were at Stirling University together in the 1970s and have somehow survived those years of utter debauchery to reach our late fifties. I have not seen Joe for about 35 years and it was great to catch up with him and swap stories about our stark depravity from the past.

 In the picture above there is a Celtic fan and a Hearts fan wearing Boston United and Albion Rovers hats on a train to watch a match between Brighton and MK Dons. Its a funny old game. It was great also to catch up with Adam Poots and Peter Tissington. I have not seen Adam since we were at the Euros together last summer and Peter is becoming a good pal as our ‘roads to Wembley’ collided a few rounds ago.

The fab four: L-R Peter Tissington, Adam Poots, Joe Black and your blogger

There is of course now a 50% chance that I will be seeing Joe, Adam and Peter in Brighton again in three weeks time. 8/10

Overall Road to Wembley from Scotland Rating 71/100

At this point I have to bid a very fond farewell to the good people of Milton Keynes Dons Football Club. An often maligned and much misunderstood club the Dons are heroes in my eyes. In a short space of time they have built a club with a family focus, a strong link to their local community and a team on the pitch who are well coached and play good football. I wish them every success in the future. A special note of thanks to all of the Dons fans who have helped me with this fun and nonsense. Specifically the wonderful Colin Butler and his fabulous sidekick Nick Hedges – thanks for organising that unforgettable night at Stadium MK last month. Steven Mannion and John Farnham have also become big pals of mine and I hope to see you all again soon – maybe in the play-offs in May? For years to come I will be following the fortunes of MK Dons with great interest.

So, Brighton and Hove Albion are now my team on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. I have a feeling I might be spending some time with the Seagulls. They could go a long way in the FA Cup if they choose to prioritise the competition. Who will they play in the next round? Will I be back at the Evening Star pub in Brighton in three weeks time or will the Road take me to a new destination. The draw for round 4 of the FA Cup is made on BBC 2 at 7.00 pm tomorrow evening. Tune in and then come back here on Tuesday for reaction to the draw … and most important of all … keep reading!

Miles on the clock for this match by road, rail and plane 1006

Total Miles on the Road to Wembley from Scotland so far 5871