Brighton and Hove Albion's Mission Impossible: My head says no, my heart says unlikely

Ansu Fati is consoled by Adam Webster after last week's defeat in Rome. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

It’s nearly 41 years since Brighton lost the 1983 FA Cup Final Replay 4-0 to Manchester United, and I’ve yet to watch a re-run. And it’s the same with our 5-0 humiliation at the hands of arch rivals Crystal Palace in October 2002.

Unfortunately I notched up the unwanted ‘hat-trick’ in Italy last week, and without fear of contradiction in years to come when getting all Dewey eyed over the Albion’s European adventure, the events, at least on the pitch, in Rome won’t feature.

Ever the eternal Albion optimist it is only ‘half-time’, that said the Seagulls require the greatest comeback since Lazarus to progress into the last eight of the Europa League.

So, donning my well worn Blue and White tinted spectacles, and clutching at every straw I can find, there are still a number of factors.

At 4-0 up will Roma, thinking they are home and dry, be over confident?

Perhaps, but we’re not reinventing the wheel here, it’s going to be more about what Albion do than their opponents, taking the three points against Forest at the weekend out of the equation, the previous three performances, Wolves, Fulham and Roma have been poor, if ever Ansu Fati needed a ‘world class’ performance, to repay the reported ‘ground breaking’ highest ever Albion weekly wage, it’s now.

That and a number of the other talented Albion youngsters having the ‘game of their lives’, along with the likes of Danny Welbeck and Pascal Gross?

Not for the first time last week in Rome, the Albion had the majority of possession and almost created as many chances as the hosts, so you could argue, it’s almost there already.

Basically, any Roma goal in 90 mins effectively stops it stone dead, but - and a big but at that - with the Amex rocking, or at least the 25,000 or so of us that will be in the stadium, and the Albion get an early goal, then another one before break, then anything could happen.

Straw-clutching at its finest, one of the songs the Albion play pre match at the Amex, The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’, and guess what, St Jude is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.

Surely it has to be a sign?

It would be almost obligatory for me to finish with a prediction, with dear old St Jude in the back of my mind, I clearly have to turn up Thursday night thinking we can do it.

Frustration and disappointment?, that’s all part of the Albion supporters DNA!