Text at top (next game etc)

Next Game: Marine At Edgar Street On Saturday 9th November At 3.00pm

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

From The Archives - Sky Request Date Change


Continuing BN's look back at the last few days of the 1996/97 season - here's a few items that appeared a couple of days before the Brighton Match.

Firstly - The Football League has refused a request from the satellite broadcaster, Sky Sports, to switch Hereford United's crucial Third Division survival match with Brighton at Edgar Street from Saturday to Sunday in order to screen the game live.

Chris Hull, a League spokesman, said: "Sky asked the League to move the game forward to Sunday but, after consulting both clubs and the local police, we felt the game should remain on Saturday."

Secondly - From the Jerusalem Post:

THE bottom of Nationwide Division Three is where either Brighton or Hereford will be relegated out of the league. Saturday's results could not have set up a more intriguing finish after Brighton beat Doncaster 1-0 at home and Hereford lost 2-1 at Leyton Orient. The computer program which set up the fixtures for the season should be named Hitchcock after it threw up the final game of the season next week, Hereford at home to Brighton.

With both clubs on 46 points, the issue is simple - whoever wins, stays up, while a draw is good enough for Hereford.

As fate would have it, this writer found himself with a spare couple of hours on Saturday and went to the Leyton Orient-Hereford game. It's a far cry from the Premiership, and it isn't pretty to watch, but one is left with a feeling that soccer at this level is crucial for the overall survival of the game.

Despite their perilous position, not to mention the long distance, Hereford brought about 2,000 fans with them to east London. Brighton, of course have actually earned 48 points, but had two of them deducted for a pitch invasion by fans at the end of last year and the club has threatened to take the matter to the court of appeal.