In response to Don Black's ill-informed comments regarding the low attendance at the Albion's home match against Wycombe recently (Letters, November 5), I would like to raise the following points.

The match was a second-round LDV trophy match. The LDV is a tin-pot competition, considered a waste of time by most people. It involves only the lower division teams and generally secures pitiful attendance.

The fact that the Albion managed to attract 3,237 fans for a midweek fixture that was little more than a friendly is, if anything, a great indication of the support we have.

The team fielded, as per the first-round match against Swansea, was hardly our first-choice line-up.

No Zamora, no Cullip, no Oatway and no Brooker. How many other teams could claim a near 50 per cent capacity crowd for a "reserve" team playing a "friendly"?

Compare our 3,237 with the crowds for the other second-round games. The average was 2,533.

The legal capacity of the Goldstone was much lower than in previous years during the reign of the "certain two members of the board".

The East terrace had large sections that were deemed unsafe from lack of maintenance. In addition, the actions of those two members initially turned away many fans who could not bear to witness the apparent death of the club.

When Wycombe visit in March, you will see a different attendance. Our average home gate is 6,690 (eighth best in the division), with most

of the deficit from capacity resulting from seats left empty to provide segregation between home and away fans and from away teams not selling their full ticket allowance.

A larger capacity would clearly result in much larger gates.

-Michael Wray, from Brighton, currently on secondment in New Zealand