As our Arctic Cruise came to an end, keeping up with what was happening between Manchester United and Brighton needed excellent planning and great execution.
Much like the Albion’s play as they made it six wins out of seven against the not-so-mighty-anymore United. A result and performance which helped me convert Bergen Airport into Brighton supporters, if only for a day.
Our Hurtigruten ship, the MS Kong Harald, was due to dock at 1.45pm English time. Kick off at Old Trafford was 2pm English time.
Not being a big boat, we disembarked quicky. In went my earpods and on came BBC Radio Sussex via the MyAlbionTV app for the coach journey from the dock to the airport.
I was able to hear pretty much the whole first half, starting with the fitting tribute paid to Denis Law before kick off.
Two pipers led the players onto the pitch whilst playing Flower of Scotland in hour of the United and all-round football legend.
Law was a hero for many of us when I went to school in the 1960s, even if you did not support Manchester United. He was one of those players above club allegiances.
At the time of the Munich Air Disaster, Law was still playing for Huddersfield Town. He joined United some four years later and fully understood the tragedy and the effects that event had on so many people. That was a huge part of what made him special.
It did not take Brighton long to get into their stride once respects had been paid for Law. Joao Pedro put in an early cross from the right which both Andre Onana and Danny Welbeck rose to meet. A ricochet ended up taking it just over the bar and out for a goal kick.
Shortly after and the Albion took the lead. Carlos Baleba hit a long ball over the top straight onto the Velcro boots of Kaoru Mitoma.
The Japanese Buller Train brought it under control superbly. Not being greedy, Mitoma squared across goal for Yankubu Minteh to slot past Onana with only five minutes on the clock.
My fellow coach passengers must have thought I was off my rocker as I bounced up and down in my seat, celebrating.
The next real action came when Carlos Baleba threw his arms around the beck of Josh Zirkzee in the Brighton box.
Referee Peter Bankes hesitated for a second or two before awarding United a penalty. Up walked Bruno Fernandes, who took a deep breath before beating Bart Verbruggen. Back to ground with a bump for the Albion.
Danny Welbeck was not far away from forcing the ball over the line for a goal against his old side. Harry Maguire then tried to head a back across when he might have beaten Verbruggen himself had he aimed towards the Brighton net.
No sign of a 180 from Maguire to impress the new World Darts champions Luke Littler, watching on from the crowd.
The half time whistle blew with the score at 1-1 just as the coach pulled into the airport. Having already pre-checked in, printed off luggage labels and attached them, it was straight to self-service bag drop off and through security.
We sped through the departures lounge and found O’Leary’s restaurant. And guess what? They had the biggest TV screen I have ever seen, filled with the beautiful sight of a team in blue and white stripes.
VIAPLAY were showing the game live for viewers in Norway. I could not believe my luck, and so settled down to watch the second half with some very scrumptious fish and chips.
Seeing the Albion on the screen raised my blood pressure. “Don’t forget your bloody blood pressure pills, Tony,” I thought to myself as the game resumed.
There was no sound from the TV. but that did not matter as I still had Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall in my ears.
A foul on Welbeck led to a free kick taken by Yasin Ayari, who put a good ball in even though he slipped. Another set of boots for Buzz to check in the week.
Ayari’s free kick still led to a melee in the box as six Albion players, six United and Onana all scurried for the ball in a game of bagatelle.
Pedro eventually came out on top, spinning on a sixpence to fire past Onana. In amongst all the chaos, a United defender went down in rather a theatrical wriggle and Mr Bankes was asked to attend the pitch side monitor.
Well, we all know how that ends. Mr Bankes looked at how Jan Paul van Hecke kicked through the boot of Dalot, eventually deciding to rule out the goal. Back to 1-1.
Brighton came forward again with Ayari running at the United defence. He slipped the ball right to Minteh, whose great chip towards the far post was guided into the net by Mitoma.
I screamed in the restaurant, nearly choking on a piece of fish. Those around me began to take more of an interest in what was happening on the TV, as I explained that Minteh setting up Mitoma was a role reversal of the first Albion goal. What a partnership they are becoming.
It also saw Mitoma become the leading Japanese scorer in Premier League history. What an achievement and well deserved at that for a brilliant Brighton player.
The question now was could the Albion see out a win? There were still a good 30 minutes remaining. And United as we all remember too well sometimes even get gifted penalty equalisers after the final whistle has blown.
United became more and more irascible as the game wore on. Fernandes kept complaining to Mr Bankes over goodness knows what. And Onana stepped hard onto Van Hecke’s foot completely unnecessarily.
Brighton players did well to keep their cool in the face of what United were up to. Meaning that when the third Albion goal arrived, I felt United deserved what happened to them.
Van Hecke found March on the right. March flicked the ball into Ayari. This great one-touch football saw Ayari cross into the middle.
Onana got his just deserts for that earlier incident with Van Hecke, spilling the cross straight to Georginio Rutter arriving on the scene.
Rutter took a couple of touches, set himself and then put a poacher’s finish underneath Onana and Matthijs de Ligt. Brighton led 3-1, I let out another roar and by now many fellow travellers in O’Leary’s were joining in. Bergen Airport was behind Brighton!
Still listening to BBC Radio Sussex meant I heard Warren make the quote of the day, saying: “Onana has Zebedee hands.”
For those of you too young to remember The Magic Roundabout, Zebedee was a puppet who had springs for hands and feet. Thank you, Onona, we say. He makes a ricket somewhere in every game.
United fans were seen leaving the stadium in droves after the Rutter goal. They have a long way to go to get back to the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. If they ever can.
It was also my cue to leave, head to Gate F24 to board our Norwegian Air flight. I was flying home in more ways than one whilst cruising at 38,000 feet across the North Sea thanks to another magnificent Albion result and performance against United.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
