IT’S EXACTLY 50 years ago today that I went to watch my very first Brighton & Hove Albion match: a 3-0 win over Walsall in the old Third Division. Two-goal Alex Dawson instantly became a hero and a lifelong devotion was born.

Before long, I got swept along by the excitement of a promotion in 1972, and topped off the season by going to watch Brighton’s Willie Irvine play in Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over England at Wembley.

After the high, the low of relegation in 1973 but, in the autumn of that year, to the whole football world’s astonishment, our humble team was suddenly being managed by one of the biggest names in the game, Brian Clough.

While that scenario was short-lived, it signalled that Brighton would no longer be viewed simply as a footballing outpost. The momentum begun by Clough was built on when the former Tottenham Hotspur captain Alan Mullery took charge in the summer of 1976. It seemed he could do no wrong. The little and large goalscoring partnership of Peter Ward and Ian Mellor excited the crowds and edged the Seagulls towards the promised land.

Mark Lawrenson, the best player I’ve ever seen play for the Albion, was brilliant at the back and in midfield but, when he eventually went, in exchange we got European Cup winner Jimmy Case, who’d already bagged an impressive medal haul with Liverpool. Centre half Steve Foster was so immense in defence for Brighton that he was picked to play for England and, a year later, a sight I never expected to see as long as I lived: Brighton in the FA Cup Final.

Relegation to the second tier seemed bleak at the time but none of us realised it was going to get a whole lot worse before it got better. There was, though, another chance to see my team at Wembley when, against all the odds, we made it to the play-off final – only to suffer a disappointing loss.

By now I was getting rather used to the highs and lows of supporting the Albion, but what was going on behind the scenes in the last decade of the 20^th century threatened the very existence of the club.

Always we looked more in hope than expectation for a saviour and thankfully it came, firstly in the shape of Dick Knight to stabilise the ship and set it on a new, exciting course, and then eventually in the extraordinarily wealthy Tony Bloom, whose grandad had taken him along to the Goldstone as a lad and imbued him with that same sort of passion that had fuelled my interest back in 1969.

Today we’re back at football’s top table, playing against the best teams in the land, and no-one’s sure how long it will last.

One thing’s for sure, regardless of what level the Albion are playing at, I will still feel that same tingle of excitement as Sussex by the Sea heralds the arrival of the team on the pitch – and long may it continue.

As a small indulgence on this special personal landmark day for me, I’ve chosen a select XI of my all-time favourite Albion players; not necessarily the best, but those who’ve given me most enjoyment over those 50 years of watching.

Peter Grummitt

Bruno        Steve Foster      Mark Lawrenson       Eddie Spearritt

Jimmy Case     Peter O’Sullivan

Gerry Ryan   John Byrne   Willie Irvine   Clive Walker

Subs: Tomasz Kuszczak, Gary Stevens, Matthew Upson, Richard Carpenter, Peter Ward, Bobby Zamora, Glenn Murray.