As we left the ground on Saturday, with our feet somewhere between Withdean and Cloud Nine, we met a Wolves fan who was, justifiably, less than impressed.

Determined to have the last word on the subject despite the walkover his team had been subjected to, he muttered something about 'small town teams' in a way that suggested Brighton had no right to defeat the mighty municipality of Wolverhampton.

But Brighton have only lost to Wolves once since 1979, so I was surprised he hadn't got used to this state of affairs by now. Oddly enough, a brief reminder of the facts did little to cheer him up!

I doubt that Matt Murray, the Wolves keeper, felt very cheery either, since his number 13 shirt certainly made him the unluckiest player on the pitch although it didn't stop him being selected, along with Our Bob, for the England under-21 match against Italy last Tuesday.

Mind you, a chronic case of butterfingers didn't stop Lee Grant being selected for the same fixture either so England fielded a goalkeeping partnership noted for letting in a grand total of ten goals in the previous four days.

On the night, however, despite both lads making an appearance, England only let in one goal. Sadly, it was the only goal of the match!

Returning to the subject of fed-up fans, the less than mighty Wolves limped home minus any sympathy from us and, despite a fairly heavy police presence, without getting their claws out in retribution and causing any obvious trouble at the ground despite the slightly murky reputation of some of their number at Molineux.

Locally, however, Sussex Police have managed to create some serious grief of their own by suggesting that the forthcoming home game against the Palace be played in the evening, rather than on the scheduled Saturday afternoon in March.

Apparently because 'Selhurst is in close proximity to Brighton', a statement of such bold naivety that it can only be received with deep sarcasm of the 'Well, fancy that!' kind.

In fairness, I know where the constabulary is coming from and that, for them, the Brighton-Palace fixture isn't quite the eagerly awaited event that it is for the fans.

The police want trouble avoided at all costs and they are fully aware of the rivalry between the teams. A football rivalry almost incomparable since a 12-year gap between league fixtures did nothing to dispel the mutual hatred between the clubs.

I think that the Police advice is misguided and I'm not alone. Many fans feel that moving the match will do little to avoid serious trouble and some of the more regrettable moments in past history would confirm these doubts.

In 1992, a CS gas incident at Hove Station followed an evening 'friendly' game against Palace.

A game, ironically, also moved from Saturday afternoon for precisely the same reasons that the police are putting forward now.

If the game is moved to an evening, many Brighton fans will be travelling straight to Withdean from work. Work that, for many, is London-based and they are far from impressed with the idea of sharing already packed commuter trains with hordes of Palace fans.

East Croydon station, a place that I firmly believe to be Hell on Earth at the best of times, will need massive policing of the kind that rarely improves community relations.

And of course there are the fans who, given a whole day in which to enjoy the pleasures of Brighton, arrive early to fit in a whole day's worth of drinking before the game.

The likely outcome was summed up on the Palace message board this week: "Late trains, more drinking time, more fans able to reach the game. Sounds like trouble!"

Roz South edits Brighton Rockz fanzine. Email roz@southspark.co.uk