Gordon Smith pays tribute to Brighton strike partner Michael Robinson - the man who set up THAT miss

Fond memories of ex-Liverpool forward who has died at age of 61

Michael Robinson in action for Brighton during the 1983 FA Cup final replay against Manchester United at Wembley.

Michael Robinson never blamed Gordon Smith for the miss that remains the most memorable moment of the 1983 FA Cup final, one-sided replay included.

It occurred in the dying seconds of the first match between Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United with the score poised at 2-2. Robinson, wearing No 9, squared the ball for the Brighton No 10 Smith, his strike partner that afternoon. We know what happened next. Smith did not score.

Less well remembered is what occurred late on in the semi-final at a packed Highbury. A Jimmy Case thunderbolt had put Brighton ahead against Sheffield Wednesday but they were pegged back by an equaliser from Ante Mirocevic. Twelve minutes from the end, Smith was played in by Jimmy Case.

An all Scottish battle as Brighton striker Gordon Smith is challenged by Manchester United defender Gordon McQueen during the 1983 FA Cup final.

While the Scot's first shot was saved by Bob Bolder, Smith controlled the rebound and was all set to pick his spot with his left foot from six yards when…..Robinson stepped in to score and spark delirium among 27,000 Brighton fans.

“If you watch the footage of it, I am actually shouting at him that he is in my road but he put it into the net so I had to accept it,” Smith told The Scotsman. “We had a laugh about it after the game.”

Smith recalled how the laughing rarely stopped around Robinson, who has passed away at the age of 61 after being diagnosed with skin cancer in 2018.

“We had a great social life when I went to Brighton,” said Smith. “The football stadium was in Hove. And what happened was we all lived in Hove, within walking distance of each other - and the stadium. It meant we all had a really close relationship, more so even than when I was at Rangers and we were travelling in from different parts of Scotland.”

Smith had an extra reason to form a close bond with Robinson. Big money signings who arrived in summer 1980, from Rangers and Manchester City respectively, they knew they had to perform.

“We had a chat about it,” recalled Smith. “Both of us had a feeling that we were under a bit more pressure than the rest of the players that season. It was big money in those days – I was £440,000 and he was £500,000.

"We were the two biggest signings Brighton had ever made. We both realised we had to do something and did OK that first season. He got 22 goals and I was in midfield and got 11.”

They remained central figures in the 1982-83 season when a thrilling FA Cup run served to mock relegated Brighton’s league form. All-conquering Liverpool were dispatched in the fourth round at Anfield.

A few weeks after combining to shoot Brighton into the final, Robinson and Smith linked up again. A goal was not the end product on this occasion. But it’s now become a part of football folklore.

Smith, a midfielder, had been pushed up front because Terry Connor was cup-tied and Gerry Ryan was coming back from injury. He happily agreed to manager Jimmy Melia’s fateful request. One reason for Smith’s willingness, as well his own happy knack of scoring goals, was knowing he would be playing alongside Robinson, whom he adored.

“He worked hard and would always find you with the ball if you made a run. He was just a class player,” he said.

In saying that, Smith did not expect to get the ball as the clock ticked down at Wembley against Manchester United (Smith had already scored the game's opener with a fine header into the corner). Robinson held off Kevin Moran as he latched on to Case’s through ball before side-stepping Gordon McQueen. Gary Bailey’s goal gaped. Robinson proved generous to a fault.

“I was thinking, ‘when Robbo shoots and if the goalie saves it then I will be in line to knock it in’," recalled Smith.

“When a striker gets in that position you do expect that nine out of ten times he will shoot. And that’s what I thought was going to happen. Then he passed to me! I was like: ‘sh*t I have to deal with this’. And of course I didn’t.”

“I said to him later: ‘You have made me an unfortunate legend at the club’. He was a lovely guy. He never gave out stick about it. It was me who brought it up with him rather than the other way about.”

Robinson admitted he found it hard living up to the standards required at Liverpool, who he joined shortly after Brighton lost 4-0 in the cup final replay.

He played a part in the Anfield club’s treble in his first and only season there, scoring a perfect hat-trick v West Ham and coming on for Kenny Dalglish in extra-time of the European Cup final win over AS Roma. His subsequent move to Spanish club Osasuna was life-defining in that it established the link to a country where he was a respected football pundit and an indelible presence in Spanish life, hence tributes on Tuesday from the likes of Rafael Nadal.

It says everything about Robinson that he always said he was glad the FA Cup final went to a replay because it meant Brighton were able to play at Wembley twice – and his best friend Steve Foster, suspended for the first game, got the chance to lead the team out.

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