While Newport County prepare to try and cause an upset in the Emirates FA Cup this weekend, Albion were cast in the role of potential giantkillers when they welcomed Portsmouth to Withdean ten years ago today.
Having negotiated two non-league teams in Woking and FC United of Manchester to reach the third round, the Seagulls earned some luck when the draw paired them with Pompey, who had reached the final the previous season and been relegated from the Premier League.
“We were underdogs, but a team that nobody would have wanted to be drawn out of the hat against. Nobody really liked coming to Withdean,” according to defender Adam El-Abd.
“Gus Poyet had us playing football that was great on the eye, but we also had a nasty side to us. We were very aggressive, but very good on the ball. We had both sides down to a tee.
“They were a bit of a star-studded team. Pompey had quite a bit of money at that stage. They had Nwankwo Kanu and John Utaka playing and some other big hitters even though they were in the Championship.”
The difference in the relative status of the two clubs at the time had been highlighted in newspaper article in the build-up.
“A paper said that their top earner was on £80,000 per week, while ours was on about £3000. They had one player who was earning double or treble our whole squad, it was a complete mismatch in that sense. But we had a lot of players that were coming into their peak or were up and coming.
“Chris Wood was on loan from West Brom. He was a little bit tubby at the time, but he could move. Ashley Barnes was the opposite, he was a little bit lightweight, but he developed and got stronger. It's funny that they're both now at Burnley together and doing well.”
Not long into the game the blue touch paper was lit after Dave Kitson threw an arm into El-Abd's face in the 14th minute.
Referee Graham Scott showed Kitson a straight red card, and Albion capitalised 12 minutes later when Wood fired emphatically into the top left corner after Mauricio Taricco had miscued.
While the red card certainly played into Albion's hands, El-Abd is confident that even with 11 men on the pitch, Portsmouth would have had a fight on their hands.
“It was definitely a red card. The ball went out for a corner and just before it was about to come in I grabbed him to make sure he wasn't going anywhere and instead of whacking my arm away he whacked me in the face!
“I didn't really antagonise him, it was a strange one really because there was no malice in the game up until that point.
“Steve Cotterill was their manager and Portsmouth were a typical Cotterill team. They'd run, they'd fight, they got the ball forward. They were kicking, leaving elbows in, trying to get a reaction out of one of us after the red card.
“But we had a style of play that even if they still had 11 men we would have been very difficult to beat. Against ten, we made it very tough for them.”
The hosts doubled their advantage just before half-time when Barnes stroked the ball into the bottom left corner from the penalty spot after Ibrahima Sonko's handball.
Albion continued to dominate but were punished for failing to deal with a long throw into the box and Tom Kilbey took advantage to fire in from close range in the 88th minute.
But Francisco Sandaza extinguished any Pompey hopes of a leveller when he found the back of the net in the first minute of added time.
“Portsmouth were very physical, they had a lot of big players and they scored from a long throw-in. It made the score-line flattering for them, because we dominated,” El-Abd recalled.
“Even in the first half we went 2-0 up and the fans were ole-ing! We were putting together 20, 30-pass sequences, we were playing against a team that had just been relegated from the Premier League. It was a good day for us.
“It was a proper Cup tie, do or die. Their striker made a mistake and gave us a leg-up. That's what the Cup is about, it's a one-off game when anything can happen.
“It's not always the big teams and the big players that win. On paper they should have beaten us, but we had a good day and they had a bad day, that's what it boiled down too.”
The Albion line-up: Brezovan, Elphick, El-Abd, Painter, Tarrico (Bridcutt 60), Bennett, Sparrow, Kishishev, Barnes, Murray (Holroyd 81), Wood (Sandaza 68).
Subs: Poke, Dunk, Dicker, Smith, Bridcutt, Holroyd, Sandaza.
Goals: Wood 14, Barnes 45+4, Sandaza 90+1.