March into the promised land
THEY POURED onto the pitch, as years of torment, misery and despair were dispatched in a visceral roar of triumph.
The trail of tears that Brighton supporters have trodden for the last 20 years is matched by few others, as this morning they contemplate life in the Premier League.
A last day of the season escape from relegation from the Football League 20 years ago, homelessness and a 70-mile trek to Gillingham for home games for two years, protest marches and bucket collections, another temporary home in an athletics stadium, and three play-off defeats in the last four years.
At the final whistle, Huddersfield could still have technically caught them, even though they would have to overturn a 32-goal swing and win their final five matches.
But that all changed in the late game as Huddersfield drew 1-1 at Derby and Brighton’s place in the top flight was untouchable. Two hours earlier, there were thousands on the pitch here with chairman Tony Bloom wiping away tears of joy up in the stand.
Chris Hughton’s players, having comfortably seen off a relegation-haunted Wigan side after a nervy start, thanks to goals from Glenn Murray and Solly March, cavorted in the stands. They knew.
Bloom said: “This feels amazing. To be here at the Amex, with 30,000 Brighton fans, it’s our dream come true.
“Twenty years ago we were homeless, going nowhere, and here we are on the way to the Premier League. All of us at the club, the players in particular, want the title now, and we’ll be going for it. Hopefully we’ll be getting it very soon.”
Brighton dropped out of the top flight in 1983, and it has been the longest of hard roads since then.
Wigan, fighting to avoid the drop into League One, came on the back of two wins and in determined, organised mood.
It took Hughton’s side a while to get going but eight minutes before half-time the breakthrough came. Lewis Dunk lofted a ball forwards which Dan Burn should have dealt with, but he fluffed his header.
Tomer Hemed knocked the ball back to Murray, and he drilled a low shot into the corner from the edge of the area. It was his 22nd goal this season, 19 of them at home.
The second goal was coming. Anthony Knockaert’s free-kick was tipped around a post by Jakob Haugaard and Murray shot into the side netting. Then, after Knockaert’s cross was blocked, the ball fell to March, who took one touch and buried his shot under Haugaard.
Out of the blue, Wigan got a goal back to signal a spell of the jitters, as Nick Powell headed home at the far post from Jamie Hanson’s cross.
But Brighton were soon back in control. And then the whistle went, and the club’s pleas for the fans to stay off the pitch stood not a chance. The faithful had waited a long time for this moment.
Local lad Dunk emerged at the end clad only in his underpants. Did he mind? Did he heck.