A rail operator has issued an update after a “nightmare” train service meant hundreds of fans were late to Albion’s match against bitter rivals Crystal Palace.

Thousands queued at Brighton Station last night and many of them ended up missing up to 30 minutes of the match.

Fans sang “you don’t know what you’re doing” among cruder chants directed at Southern Rail.

Southern Rail was operating its full force of drivers and ran a full service but there were  delays at Brighton due to large numbers of people boarding at Lewes, which slowed down the operation.

Some fans missed kick-off despite arriving at the station an hour and a half before the game.

Southern's head of stations Stephen MacCallaugh said: "We had a robust operation and events plan in place and with the support of the police, we got everyone to the match and back home again safely.

"We had our full complement of drivers and we ran our full service which is the normal plan for a weekday match. On top of this, we diverted some trains from Eastbourne via Falmer and ran a special train for Palace fans back to London to provide extra capacity.

The Argus: Queues in the old taxi rank of the stationQueues in the old taxi rank of the station (Image: Andrew Gardner)

"Due to the large numbers of people boarding further up the route, in Lewes, two trains arrived around nine minutes late into Brighton. This slowed down the complex operation and we're sorry that this held up some of our customers."

The Argus understands that providing additional carriages for fans would mean cancelling trains or shortening services in the commuter rush-hour when trains are already at maximum capacity.

One fan said: "The trains are a nightmare. There are only two left that will get fans in before kick-off.

The Argus: Queues stretched out of the front of Brighton Station across the road as fans tried to get to the gameQueues stretched out of the front of Brighton Station across the road as fans tried to get to the game (Image: The Argus)

"It's the craziest I've ever seen it."

Many fans missed a nervy opening ten minutes which saw Crystal Palace have a couple of good chances.

They also missed Solly March’s 15th minute opener which turned out to be the winning goal for Albion.

There is an RMT strike today and Saturday.

Brighton’s next match is in the FA Cup quarter final against League Two side Grimsby Town on Sunday.