Brighton 2, Doncaster Rovers 1

. Amazing comeback victory .

. Dramatic first game at the Amex stadium .

. Substitute Will Buckley scores twice .


IT WAS like the script for a movie… substitute makes his league debut and scores twice in the final seven minutes to give Brighton and Hove Albion a comeback victory against Doncaster Rovers in the first league game at their new £90 million Amex Stadium.

Will Buckley, who signed from Watford on June 6 for £1 million plus add ons, capped a dramatic Championship match in which Brighton manager Gus Poyet was sent to the stands by the referee, two Doncaster players were stretchered off and The Seagulls' other signing, Craig Mackail-Smith (who joined the club on July 4 for £2.5million), was named man of the match.

Doncaster had threatened to spoil the party, scoring a soft goal in the first half as Brighton failed to capitalise on the carnival atmosphere in front of a 20,219 crowd.

But substitutions by Poyet, bringing on Craig Noone and Will Buckley, changed the game. Brighton started to dominated in the second half and created several chances that should have found the back of the net.

It was left to Buckley to equalise in the 83rd minute. He then sent the already hyped-up crowd wild with a well-placed winner in the eighth minute after some magical play by Noone.

It is difficult to chose one out of three players for man of the match: Mackail-Smith, for his no stop harassment of the Doncaster defence; Gordon Greer, who was solid in defence and intelligent with his distribution; and Buckley for his cool, calm and clinical execution. In the end, we'll go for Mackail-Smith.

So, it's great to start with a win… and three points in the bag. But Doncaster are one of the weakest teams in the league. There is much better opposition to come, and Brighton need to start more brightly.