Championship football at a brand new Amex Stadium was secured a decade ago today.
The ground was undergoing its final touches as Albion romped home to the League One title in what was a fairy tale send-off for Withdean.
It was, in its own way, a perfectly chaotic evening when Dagenham & Redbridge visited on 12th April 2011.
Dagenham took the lead in the opening minute through a deflected John Akinde effort, but Albion responded and put themselves in the lead with Inigo Calderon and Glenn Murray getting the goals.
The visitors went back in front through John Nurse and Danny Green to make it 3-2, but a stunning Liam Bridcutt strike was followed up by a winner from substitute Ashley Barnes to complete a tremendous comeback and importantly seal the three points that Albion needed to secure promotion from the third tier.
“It was a roller coaster that constantly went back and forth,” Bridcutt recalls. “In our heads we were saying ‘this is the game we get promoted’. Every five or ten minutes though it looked like the game would go the opposite way. It’s crazy to think that it ended 4-3. If you wanted a game to be promoted it was that one, for the fans it must have been unbelievable.
“We didn’t want to wait another week to be promoted. Scoring the goal in that game, it was a whirlwind of emotions and when the full-time whistle went I was absolutely exhausted physically and mentally.
“I remember it all vividly. The fans stormed onto the pitch as soon as the game ended and I didn’t even try to get to the tunnel. I got swarmed and it took me about 15 minutes to get from the pitch to the dressing room and by then the lads had been celebrating for a while.
“All I had left on was my socks and underwear! Fans had pulled my shirt, shorts and boots off. I wasn’t that bothered that people were essentially ripping my clothes off me, I knew how much it meant to them.”
The victory over the Daggers was the culmination of a terrific campaign for Albion, who had got everything right on the pitch according to Gordon Greer.
“It was one of my most enjoyable seasons as a player. All the players in that group knew what was expected of them. It’s a cliché, but we took the league by storm. We were winning most games and in some of those we were battering teams. Southampton were our main competition but in the end it was quite comfortable for us.
“Everything contributed to the promotion; the atmosphere within the dressing room, the staff as well as the football we were playing. When you’re winning games and you’re playing good football you look back with fond memories, the few years around that time we played some amazing stuff.
“I had some really good years at Brighton, but the first few years were definitely the most enjoyable.
“People don’t always speak particularly highly of Withdean because fans were so far away from the pitch, but it didn’t bother us. We knew we were moving to the Amex and it would be amazing to start there playing Championship football. It worked out really well. It was a fun season.”
That close bond in the dressing room has remained to this day, with Bridcutt still in touch with a number of his former teammates.
“Me and Gordon [Greer] speak regularly, I still speak to Ashley Barnes. We all enjoyed each other’s company, but we also demanded the highest levels of each other and wanted to draw more from each other. That showed in the end. I’ve made friends for life from that group and that’s a rare thing in football.
“We had the feeling every game beforehand that we were going to win and that’s such a hard thing to get, you get that from having faith in the lads around you and that was a massive positive for us. We went on a run at the end of the season when every game was enjoyable – we had something to play for, we wanted to be champions.”
Greer added, “I don’t remember a great deal about the game, if at all! At that point the matches were coming thick and fast and we were on an amazing run.
“It was my second promotion to the Championship having done it with Doncaster Rovers, but I only made one sub appearance in the last game of the season for them.
“There was a number of factors as to why I didn’t get my chance with Donny, I’d been injured and then went out on loan to get back up to speed. It didn’t work out, so it was really nice to beat them in the first game at the Amex after promotion.”