The History of Brighton and Hove Albion v Manchester City

Given the fact that we've only met Manchester City 17 times, the fixture has thrown up all manner of entertainment through the years.

It has resulted in one manager leaving his job - Bond, John Bond - of Manchester City after the Blues were knocked out of the fourth round of the FA Cup 4-0 at the Goldstone in January 1983. The Albion of course went onto reach the final that season.

It's also resulted in one manager wearing the most ridiculous pair of trousers seen in a dugout at a Brighton game when Pep Guardiola wore some garish cream chinos on City's visit to the Amex at the start of the season. His management skills are clearly better than his fashion sense as the Citizens cruised to a 2-0 victory without ever really getting out of second gear.

Even more remarkably, it has also resulted in the sacking of a 'ball boy'. Keith Cuss was the Albion's chief ball boy at the age of 41 and something of a cult hero at the Goldstone. With Brighton leading City 2-1 late on in April 1989, Keith decided to head a ball into the crowd as a quite brilliant time wasting tactic. Neither City nor the Albion saw the funny side of this and he ended up losing his job as a result.

City's last visit to the South Coast was arguably the most memorable. Newly minted as the worlds richest club, they faced Micky Adam's Albion side who four days earlier had lost 1-0 at home to a Walsall side who played for over an hour with nine men. That was (nearly) forgotten though as Brighton surprised their illustrious visitors, winning 5-3 on penalties to pull off the shock of the season.

City were the side who confirmed our last relegation from the top flight, a 1-0 defeat in May 1983 that ensured we finished bottom of the pile and had to endure a 34 year wait to play in England's highest division again. There'll be no repeat of that this time.