At some point in their life, every Brighton fan has to make the pilgrimage to Carlisle. Considering the journey consists of 732 miles, and involves waking up ridiculously early on a Saturday morning, you can be forgiven for leaving it later on in life before attempting it.
Not me though, as I set off from Haywards Heath station at 8:43am towards London Victoria. However, the time issue once again comes into play if you've had a heavy one the night before; my companions on this voyage had made this error. Within minutes of meeting and greeting them, one of them headed to the toilet to vomit. Not a good start then, as without even leaving Sussex we had our first casualty.
It was when a Christian enthusiast began making a speech to the entire carriage on the sanctity of life, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be 'one of those days'. Sure enough, he kept on going for a good five minutes, before finally someone told him where to go.
It was a quick dart across the Victoria line upon arriving in London to Euston, where we would have enough time to stock up on supplies ahead of the 10.30 train to Glasgow Central via Carlisle.
Once again the only highlights (for me, anyway) were my two counterparts throwing up during the three and a quater hours journey. No disrespect to them of course - I don't think I'd have bothered with the journey if I was sick before we'd even left! Does this make me a bad fan?
Eventually, we reached Carlisle.
A quick food stop in the town centre was required before we made the quick walk to Brunton Park, arriving just before kick off. The Burgess Hill Seagulls flag was proudly erected on the empty terrace behind the goal with the help of some friendly stewards, before the teams were out and the game was underway.
The first half was all in all, pretty dull. The Albion were under bombardment early on from an impressive Carlisle side, Casper Ankergren twice making good saves to foil their attackers. Fortunately the Albion weathered the storm and went in at half time 0-0.
The second half saw a change in the play, as the Seagulls dominated possession and continued to put pressure on the Carlisle goal. This did not result in many clearcut chances though, and the game began to draw towards a stalemate. In stoppage time both sides had chances to win it, but the conclusion was to be a 0-0 draw.
All in all then, not a bad result for us, as Carlisle were flirting with the automatic promotion places going into the match, but it certainly wasn't the most exciting of encounters.
The highlight of the day would undoubtedly have to be meeting a man in KFC after the game, who claimed to be the best friend of Albion striker Glenn Murray! He told us that when Murray had had his transfer request last year, Huddersfield, Carlisle themselves and no other than our beloved Crystal Palace had made bids for him! It is worth pointing out he also mentioned that Glenn is now extremely happy at the club.
RATING: 7/10. As alot of people have been saying to me all week, "that's a long way to go for a 0-0 draw isn't it?". Well yes, it is. But then I suppose that's half the fun of going to football. It would've been much worse had we lost! The journey also ran smoothly, with only delays at London Victoria on the way home stopping us at any point.
Next up, provisionally is Charlton Athletic, unless I give in to Tranmere in a weeks time.
Thanks for reading.
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