Thanks to our winter climate, the 16-year-old striker from Hastings got his first taste of League action before he'd played a single reserve team match.

McPhee got his chance at a rain-lashed Vetch Field thanks to a winter flu bug which decimated Micky Adams' first team squad.

But that same inclement weather has left him still waiting for his reserve team debut after Combination clashes with Bristol City and Portsmouth were called off.

McPhee is now in the record books as the third youngest League player in Albion's history, but he wasn't the only teenager to get a chance.

Shaun Wilkinson was sent into the heat of a fierce battle and showed some super touches in his first League game.

And don't forget that Ryan Palmer, who started in midfield, is only 19 and had not previously tasted League action with Albion or his previous club, Fulham.

It was a small, but significant step on a very steep ladder for three of them and one they will always remember.

Boss Adams, keen to keep their minds firmly on the task in hand, insisted: "It's still early for them. It's not like playing kids' football and they've got a lot to learn."

But he admitted: "You always remember your first game and the kids deserved their chance."

Adams has also called up Daniel Marney and Scott Ramsay recently and has been an interested observer as Dean Wilkins' side have embarked on an exciting FA Youth Cup run.

McPhee, still in the first year of his YTS, was happy just to be a part of the travelling party as the Seagulls headed down the M4 last Friday afternoon.

He admitted: "It all came as a bit of a rush. About an hour and a half before the game we were in the dinner hall and the manager said I was on the bench.

"I was a bit worried but quite excited at the same time. On the way to the ground I was just trying to let it sink in

"Then with ten or 15 minutes to go the gaffer said, 'Get warmed up, Chris'.

"They told me to try and enjoy it, do what I do in the youth team and try and hold the ball up."

His taste of the big time was all over barely ten minutes later.

But he said: "I was happy because I'd done something I never thought I'd do this year.

"I don't remember much about the game, just little bits when I was holding the ball up.

"But after it the other players were saying 'Well done'.

"I knew I was one of the youngest to have played for Brighton but not the third youngest. I'm quite surprised by that and quite excited as well."

McPhee has been with the Seagulls since he was an under-11, but Wilkinson has already moved around a little having been turned down by Portsmouth and Southampton.

The 18-year-old got his chance after impressing in a game at Bognor, word of which got back to Albion via Wilkins.

Unlike McPhee, he had an inkling his first outing could be just around the corner.

He revealed: "I knew I was on the bench on Saturday morning and I was just warming up in the corner when the manager called me.

"He said go on there, enjoy it and get forward as much as you can.

"I thought I would get a chance to get on because it was Ryan Palmer's first game as well and we play the same role."

We're still several years from knowing whether Saturday's match was the start of big things for either player.

But all the big names started somewhere, so why not the Vetch Field on a wet December Saturday?

l ALBION physio Malcolm Stuart did his bit to keep the new boys' feet on the ground this week.

Debut midfielder Ryan Palmer was just leaving the training ground when Stuart went up to him and said: "Great debut."

"What?" said Palmer, ready to field another compliment.

"Great debut," joked Stuart. "Peter Ward against Hereford... what a great debut."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.