A late Will Buckley double ensured the Albion started life at the Amex with a win on the opening day of the Championship season.
Pre match the atmosphere around town was buzzing. Not since the late 80’s/early 90’s have over 20,000 people watched an Albion home game.
Having heard about the free flags I was worried that it would create a bit of a plastic atmosphere but I was certainly proved wrong. The Amex was a sea of colour and noise as kick off approached with the big screens playing a montage of historic Albion moments mixed in with an aerial shot approaching the stadium.
By a stroke of luck as the montage finished Doncaster hadn’t arrived in the tunnel which allowed the PA to fall silent and let the fans fill the gap with the sort of noise a generation of Albion fans will never have witnessed at a home game.
As Sussex by the sea rang out over the PA and Gordon Greer lead out the team for the first time there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as 14 years of waiting finally came to an end.
In the build up to the game Gus Poyet had made it clear it was no longer about the new stadium and the most important thing for the players was starting off our first Championship season since 2006 with 3 points.
And for long periods it didn’t seem like that would happen after Doncaster took a first half lead when Billy Sharp finished off a counter attacking move after Gary Dicker dallied on the ball in midfield.
The Seagulls came back in the second half and were rewarded for their pressure when Will Buckley wrote his name into the Albion history books by grabbing the first Albion goal at the Amex followed by the dramatic late winner 8 minutes into injury time.
You have to feel a bit for our visitors who not only lost in the last minute but also left Sussex with both key strikers Billy Sharp and James Hayter injured.
For any Albion fan who thought the Championship would be an easy ride yesterdays game should provide a good reality check even though we won. Doncaster are a decent side but not one you would expect to be challenging at the right end of the Championship but they provide a stern test for the Seagulls and could easily have spoilt our big day if injures had not taken their toll.
Leaving the ground open for fans to mingle in the concourse bars post match is proving to be a master stoke by the club with the beer flowing long after the final whistle had gone. Fans of both clubs were mingling happily in the North Stand while our friends Southampton dispatched an average looking Leeds side on the TV’s.
Up next at the Amex our old landlords Gillingham pay us a visit in the first round of the Carling Cup this coming Tuesday. Gus is promising to take the competition more seriously this year and with the first evening game at the Amex a decent crowd by Carling Cup standards should be on hand. Having tasted the first competitive action at the Amex even a lowly cup game in a competition viewed by most as pointless can’t come quickly enough!
