The day Brighton took the shine off David Beckham's Manchester United debut

Fourteen of those games have been in the top flight, seven in the FA Cup and two in the League Cup. Albion have emerged victorious three times, the latest of those victories coming at the start of the 2018/19 season

For this week’s column, I’m going back 28 years almost to the day, and a Coca-Cola Cup second round first leg game on a Wednesday evening at The Goldstone.

Albion had been relegated the previous campaign, while United had finished runners-up to Leeds United in the First Division.

Despite relegation, The Seagulls were still in the second division, due to a re-organisation of the football pyramid following the formation of the Premier League.

Albion manager Barry Lloyd was looking forward to pitting his wits against Alex Ferguson’s team. “Tonight’s tie will be a real experience for everyone at this club, in particular for our younger players”.

After a slow start in the Premier League, United were fourth in the table, behind Norwich City, Coventry City and Blackburn Rovers.

Lloyd made a number of changes to the team that had drawn at Blackpool just four days before. Mark Beeney continued in goal, behind a back four of Gary Chivers, Ian Chapman, Paul McCarthy and the experienced Stave Foster, who had returned to the club after eight years away.

In midfield, Dean Wilkins was joined by John Crumplin and Clive Walker, who operated behind a front three of Andy Kennedy, Matthew Edwards and Robert Codner. Simon Funnell and Bradley Wosalo were on the bench.

For United, Alex Ferguson had a strong team at his disposal. Gary Walsh was in goal, with Peter Schmeichel rested.

He was protected by a back line of Denis Irwin, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister and Lee Martin. Paul Ince, Neil Webb, Andrei Kanchelskis and Brian McClair made up the midfield quartet.

Up front, the powerful, bustling Mark Hughes was paired with the tricky skills of Danny Wallace.

.A crowd of 16,649 turned up for the match, some 10,000 higher than the average attendance that season. Barry Lloyd hoped that his players would ‘adapt and do his best whatever he is asked to do’.

In the early stages, Albion were very competitive, knocking the ball around with confidence, certainly not over-awed by the opposition. It was United who took the lead in the first half however, Danny Wallace scoring with a spectacular long-range effort, giving Mark Beeney no chance.

The second half saw Albion continue to play well and they gained their reward when Matthew Edwards equalised. It was no more than The Seagulls deserved, which was acknowledged by Alex Ferguson after the game. “I thought they played very well on their own ground. They were competitive and knocked the ball about extremely well”.

The game was also notable for a significant substitution. When Andrei Kanchelskis was withdrawn after 70 minutes, United sent on a young midfielder for his first team debut.

After joining the club from school the previous year, David Beckham was hoping to make his name at Manchester United. I wonder how that went………..

The 1-1 draw was an excellent result for The Seagulls and over 2,000 fans made the trip to Old Trafford for the second leg. They couldn’t quite repeat their heroics, but gave another very good account of themselves in a narrow 1-0 defeat.

It was a difficult time for Albion and the season continued to play out against a background of financial woe. In April 1993, a winding-up order was averted at the very last minute, as £350,000 from the sale of Mark Beeney to Leeds United was taken to the Worthing Tax office.

Albion were saved but it turned out to be a false dawn.

Another winding-up petition was served in July 1993 and the problems continued until a re-structuring in October of that year.

A further High Court appearance accompanied the arrival of David Bellotti as Chief Executive, but there were dark days ahead for Albion.

Things are very different nearly three decades on from that time. Graham Potter can send his team out on Saturday feeling very confident after last Sunday’s superb win at Newcastle.