Gary Williams scored possibly the finest goal seen at the Goldstone.

And he is no doubt as to where his winner over mighty Nottingham Forest stands among his lifetime memories.

The left-back fired in from outside the box to complete a double for newly-promoted Albion over the European Cup holders in the 1979-80 season.

 

The BBC cameras were there too, which was a special occasion in those days, with John Motson on commentary.

Forest would go on to retain their Euro crown a few weeks later by beating Hamburg in the Bernabeu.

Williams’ strike features prominently in any hall of fame of the Goldstone, which staged its last match 25 years ago today.

He told The Argus: “For me, it was probably the best moment of my life.

“It was Match Of The Day, one minute to go, we were playing the European champions.

“I score a scorcher from, I’m going to say, 25, 30 yards. Peter Shilton, top corner, brilliant!

“But it was a team effort and the best goal I ever scored was at Sunderland when we were relegation candidates and really it was between us and Sunderland at the time.

“Second last game of the season and I got another 89th-minute goal.

“I cracked one in to win 2-1 and hopefully save us from relegation.

“That was more important for Brighton at the time.”

Williams, now 68, was among the Goldstone greats at the Amex on Friday.

The old place was special to him during his five years and 158 league games at the club – but also before that as a visiting player in the old Third Division.

He revealed he and his Preston North End team-mates would check the fixtures to see when the Goldstone trip was as they loved playing in front of the big crowds the Seagulls attracted in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Williams said: “Coming down and playing in front of 25,000 in the Third Division instead of 5,000 was unbelievable. It was like our Wembley.

“There were a lot of guys who came down and signed here and we bonded.

“Today’s footballers, I’m not sure they bond in the same way we did. Liverpool maybe do.

“We bonded together, maybe go out for a meal together on a Saturday night.

“We fought for each other.

“We’d have loved to have played on a pitch like the Amex.

“If you watch the old games, the pitches were like ploughed fields.

“You couldn’t just play a ball without it bobbling.

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“But we had camaraderie and something about us that we would never give in.

“To this day we keep in touch. Great times.”

Williams got back to the Goldstone for the final match versus Doncaster in 1997.

He said: “I brought my boy down. He was 15 at the time.

“We went on the pitch like everybody else at the end of the game.

“I said, ‘This is where I scored that goal against Nottingham Forest’ although he wasn’t that bothered!

“Someone gave me a piece of turf. Everyone was taking pieces home.

“We took it home and planted it in the garden and next day he was practising his pitch and putt on the turf that was supposed to be sacred. No, no, no - you don’t do that!”