It was a sunny afternoon in West London as Brighton visited Loftus Road for the first time since 2017. Nobody is likely to forget that night, when Sebastien Pocognoli scored a stunning free kick, the Albion won 2-1 and promotion to the Premier League was within our grasp.
We were lucky enough to have live commentary from BBC Radio Sussex back on the airwaves. Johnny Cantor was present and Warren Aspinall, once he had finished catching up with an old mate from QPR.
One Warren quote I always remember is: “Winning is a habit, and the sooner a team gets into that habit, the better.” QPR 0-1 Brighton made it three wins from three friendlies, getting the Albion into the habit early in the Fabian Hurzeler reign.
There were just short of 3,000 Albion supporters present. They certainly made themselves heard both over the airwaves and on the MyAlbion TV broadcast.
Usually, the pictures are ahead of the radio. But not on this occasion. You heard Johnny tell you what was happening at Loftus Road and two minutes later, saw it on the Albion website.
Before the game and Johnny lamented about his father sneaking him into watch QPR as they lived just a few streets away.
There were only 4,000 or so home fans present. I wondered if some were put off by that story about a seagull biting off a man’s testicle?
He was sunbathing naked in his garden apparently when one swooped down and mistook the testicle for a bird egg. Poor chap.
Hurzeler named a strong starting XI. Jason Steele. Joel Veltman. Jan Paul van Hecke. Adam Webster. Carlos Baleba. Yasin Ayari. James Milner. Yankubu Minteh. Jeremy Sarmeinto. Kaoru Mitoma. Danny Welbeck.
The bench was equally impressive. It included new signings Mats Wieffer, Ibrahim Osman and Amario Cozier-Dubbery. Jack Hinshelwood was also back from the fractured foot injury he suffered in February.
Now think of all those players not listed. Yes, Pascal Gross has gone to Borussia Dortmund. Billy Gilmour might follow Gross out the door if he gets his move to Napoli.
But with the likes of Bart Verbruggen, Tariq Lamptey, Lewis Dunk, Valentin Barco, Pervis Estupinan, Igor Julio, Simon Adingra, Julio Enciso and Joao Pedro all absent, it shows the depth available to Hurzeler.
Minteh in particular looks a really good recruit. He was on fire against QPR and nearly scored after just 11 minutes. Home goalkeeper Paul Nardi did well to clear the danger.
Mitoma forced Nardi into another good save when cutting into a central position. The Albion were very assertive. Johnny was right when he said at half time that Brighton could quite easily have been three or four goals ahead.
More pleasing was how Steele had nothing to worry about. Brighton had looked weak defensively at times in the two Japan games.
QPR were better than both Kashima Antlers and Tokyo Verdy. To shut them out so convincingly bodes well and is testament to the defensive work Hurzeler said was the focus of training going into the game.
The Albion made no changes entering the second half and there was not long to wait before the opening goal.
Minteh got away into the box, where he was brought down. Welbeck calmly put the resulting penalty into the opposite corner to the one Madri dived towards. A great conversion.
The hour mark brought wholesale changes which seemed to impact on the pace of the game. Hurzeler made further substitutions after 74 minutes.
There was one gasp late on when Facundo Buonanotte hit the post in the last minute. No further goals, however, meant it finished QPR 0-1 Brighton.
The Albion now have one final friendly fixture against Villarreal at the Amex next Saturday. I can’t wait as for the first time in 58 years, I will watch Brighton from the North Stand.
Hurzeler and Mr Paul Barber OBE will answer questions at the upcoming Fans’ Forum. The evening will be broadcast on BBC Radio Sussex.
I will be there and bring my thoughts afterwards… who knows, I may even ask a question about a blocked toilet in the East Stand Upper again.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
