Classic matches: The day Glenn Murray outpaced Swindon's defence as Gus Poyet's Brighton triumph

This week, I am going to re-visit four games from the month of March that were important in different ways.

Swindon Town – 26 March 2011 – W 2-1 (League One)

Gus Poyet’s first full season in charge had been triumphant. Albion hit the top spot in league One at the end of September 2010 and had stayed there ever since.

March had seen the team go to new levels of consistency and when Swindon Town came to Withdean, all six games in the month has been won.

The team knew that another victory would bring promotion even closer, as well as continuing an incredible streak. The Robins were struggling at the wrong end of the table, but the game proved to be no pushover for the Seagulls.

Poyet made three changes from the team that had beaten Notts County during the week. Chris Wood was away with the New Zealand national team, so Fran Sandaza made his first start since September. Craig Noone came in for Elliott Bennett who picked up a dead leg in the same game, and Tommy Elphick replaced Adam El-Abd (hamstring).

Gary Dicker settled the nerves after 12 minutes, converting a penalty after Craig Noone was brought down in the box. Swindon equalised 10 minutes later, David Prutton’s fierce swerving drive beat Casper Ankergren from 30 yards.

Glenn Murray scored the winner after 63 minutes, after he picked the ball up 30 yards out before out-pacing the defence and burying the ball low into the corner of the net.

The victory left us 13 points clear at the top of the table. We won the next game, against Dagenham & Redbridge on 29th March, to seal a record of eight consecutive victories in the month. Promotion was sealed three games after that and the championship was sealed at Walsall on 16th April, with four games to spare.

Cardiff City – 22 March 1997 – W 2-0 (Division Three)

When Steve Gritt took charge at The Goldstone in December 1996, Albion were nine points adrift at the bottom of Nationwide Division Three. Since then, we were unbeaten at home, winning six and drawn two.

The gap had narrowed to four points by the time Cardiff City came to The Goldstone and fans were beginning to believe that the great escape might just happen. It would not be easy, as Cardiff were looking at a play-off place, 23 points ahead of Albion.

Our previous home game, against Leyton Orient, had ended in controversy when supporters, feeling they had been goaded by opposition players, invaded the pitch and punches were thrown at Orient players. Steve Gritt was keen that fans concentrated on supporting the team.

He dedicated his ‘Manager of the Month’ award for February to the supporters, urging them to ‘continue to work hard together to achieve our goal over the final eight games of the season’.

A crowd of just under 10,000 saw Albion surge out of the blocks and we took the lead when Paul McDonald converted a penalty. The lead was doubled shortly afterwards, when Ian Baird thumped the ball home.

Albion survived a second half onslaught from Cardiff City but held firm for a crucial win. The battle for survival went to the very last game, when Albion secured their league safety in a nerve-wracking encounter at Hereford United.

Nottingham Forest – 29 March 1980 – 1-0 (Division One)

Albion had endured a tough first season in the top flight. Despite being bottom in November 1979, we had clawed our way up the table over the following months. We were still dangerously close to the relegation places at the end of March 1980, when Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest came to The Goldstone.

This was the first time the Forest boss had returned to The Goldstone since his short-lived spell as Albion manager in 1973/74. They were the reigning European Champions and were on their way to retaining the trophy. Their league form had suffered and they were trailing in the wake of Liverpool, but they were still formidable opponents.

Albion had already beaten Forest that season. The 1-0 win at the City Ground in November 1979 had ended a long unbeaten run for the hosts, but surely lightening couldn’t strike twice?

Forest started strongly but Gary Birtles was guilty of a bad miss and Frank Gray sent a free-kick straight into the Albion wall. Albion came into the game as the half wore on and Peter Ward was lively up front.

After a series of fouls on the Albion striker, Kenny Burns received a yellow card after yet another robust challenge. He somehow escaped a red card soon after when, once again, he clattered into Peter Ward, but inexplicably Referee Reg Robinson kept his cards in his pocket.

The game was end to end and Gerry Ryan, the goalscorer in the game at the City Ground, tested Peter Shilton in the Forest goal a number of times. Ryan was replaced with 9 minutes to go and substitute Gary Stevens started the defining move of the game. He won the ball and started a five-pass movement which ended with Peter Ward back-flicking the ball in to the path of Gary Williams.

His thunderous strike left Shilton grasping at thin air as the ball nearly broke the net. It was a fantastic win for Albion and we had done the double over the European Champions. More importantly, it provided the impetus for a final push for survival in Division One.

Aston Villa – 25 March 1972 – 2-1 (Division Three)

Under the progressive leadership of Pat Saward, Albion were near the top of Division Three for most of the 1971/72 season.

With only two promotion places available, the visit of Aston Villa at the end of March 1972 was absolutely vital. Villa were top on 51 points, just 2 ahead of Bournemouth in second. Albion were a further 4 points back in third place.

Such was the interest in the Villa game, the Match of the Day cameras made a rare visit to The Goldstone Ground on a sunny spring afternoon.

The match was made all-ticket and a crowd of 28,833 crammed in for the game. Albion had lost their two previous games and Pat Saward made a huge call in defence for the Villa game. He dropped Steward Henderson and John Napier, with Bert Murray and Ian Goodwin coming into the side.

Both sides enjoyed some good periods of possession before Albion took the lead in some style. Brian Bromley won the ball just inside the Albion half, before slipping a short pass to John Templeman. He knocked the ball forward to Ken Beamish who superbly laid the ball off for Templeman, who had continued forward, to run on to.

He surged towards the Villa penalty area and slipped the ball out wide on the left to Willie Irvine. He cut inside and unleashed a fierce shot into the top corner of the net. It was a magnificent goal that ended up as ‘runner-up’ in the BBC Goal of the Season competition.

A further goal from Kit Napier was enough to seal the points for Albion, despite a consolation for Villa. The result heralded a twelve-match unbeaten run that saw Albion finish as runners-up to Villa and seal promotion.