Having been sold to south coast rivals Southampton a year before, Jimmy Case came back to haunt the Seagulls in the FA Cup Quarter-Final at the Goldstone on 8th March 1986.
In the first half, the Saints seemed to be first to every loose ball, and quickly gained a foothold against a rejigged Brighton side. Chris Cattlin dropped Chris Hutching at right-back, shifted Steve Jacobs from midfield to fill his place, and gave Mick Ferguson his first home start since November 1985. Suffice to say, it didn’t work:
Brighton did make more of a fight of it in the second-half but the two goals in the first half had given First Division Southampton an unassailable lead. A pity that Ferguson and Biley couldn’t have stuck those chances away here:
Chris Cattlin’s programme notes the following week reflected on the emphatic defeat:
“I would like to start this afternoon by saying what a great disappointment it was to us all that we failed to do ourselves justice last Saturday, against Southampton. That disappointment is, I know, shared by all our supporters and I appreciate how you feel. We had done so well to get so far in the competition, with battling displays in all the other rounds, but to be honest, the way we played last Saturday did not justify our presence in the Quarter-Finals. We did not play anything like we can on the day.”
The Goldstone Wrap 