If you put ‘Garry Nelson goal v Arsenal 1988’ in a Google search and have the patience of a saint you’ll eventually come across footage of the Albion striker’s volley that gave the Gunners a fright on a January afternoon in 1988 at The Goldstone.
Filming matches was still in its infancy then, and although Garry is delighted that his goal against the Gunners is recorded for posterity, the one match that season where there were no cameras missed a goal that Albion fans of a certain age still remember fondly.
It came at the start of the FA Cup run when the Seagulls visited Brentford in November 1987. Facing his own goal, Garry took the ball off Keith Jones and slalomed his way past four challenges before beating Gary Phillips from a tight angle to earn a 1-0 win. “That’s the best individual goal I scored, and it was the only game that season where there’s no footage,” said Garry, now 59. “It would have been a nice one to show my grandson, who is 18 months old, one day but I still remember it very vividly.”
Nelson scored in the subsequent Cup wins over Northampton and Bournemouth, who were in the second tier at the time, to set up a home tie against an Arsenal side who were beginning to get their act together under George Graham. The revenue generated by a crowd of 26,467 – an attendance not bettered for an Albion home game until 2012 - even allowed manager Barry Lloyd to take the squad to Spain for a few days in the build-up.
“We were having a good season. The club had been relegated the previous season and Barry signed me in 1987 after he’d failed to bring in Mark Stein. I enjoyed it straight away, we started winning games and I was scoring goals regularly, there was a feelgood factor around the club,” said Garry.
“Arsenal were a top club then but I don’t think at any time they dominated us. We were certainly the better side in the first half but Perry Groves nicked a goal and that was the difference, they only needed a couple of chances to score a goal.”
A pitch which quickly cut up suited Albion and Garry’s big moment came in the second half, the assist from an unlikely source. “John Crumplin put the cross over to the far post and Dean Wilkins, who wasn’t renowned for his aerial ability, headed it across goal. It came at an awkward angle but I managed to get over the ball and my scissors kick went past John Lukic to make it 1-1.”
Albion looked on course for a lucrative replay but in the 86th minute midfielder Kevin Richardson made it 2-1 against the run of play. “We were gutted,” says Garry. “We all felt we deserved a replay and gave a brilliant account of ourselves. They were more clinical but there wasn’t much between the teams.”
There wasn’t even the opportunity of a keepsake after the game either, as Garry recalls. “We only had one long-sleeve and one short-sleeve shirt, home and away, each so there was no chance of swapping shirts or anything which was a shame.”
Albion soon put the disappointment behind them and Nelson’s 32nd goal of the season sealed a 2-1 win over Bristol Rovers on the final day of the season at The Goldstone and promotion to the second tier.
Not bad for someone signed as a left-winger before being converted a striker to play alongside Kevin Bremner by Lloyd.
“It was a fantastic season for me,” said Garry. “Kevin Bremner was brilliant to play alongside because he took so much of the physical knocks and assisted so many of my goals.
"We had a great partnership and the following season against much better defences we both ended up with 15 goals or so each, even though we were in a relegation battle. Great days.”