Brighton's latest Theatre of Dreams is the Amex Stadium, built to the east of the city on the A27 trunk road and adjacent to Falmer station. Ideally situated for modern access you'd have thought? Well, no as it happens.

To start with, there is no parking for private cars, only buses and coaches. And that really is no parking, not a question of driving around nearby estates looking for a space, or paying a local enterprise for the privilege. There is nothing there, other than the University or farmland or the rather exclusive Falmer village. However, I'm told the park and ride schemes do work well, so you are rightly encouraged to use that method if driving - see BHA's web site for details.

By train, though, you are relying on Southern Railway's service between Brighton and points east. Happily Southern are planning a Saturday timetable for 2nd Jan, which means 4 trains an hour. Trouble is, some trains are quite short and in the absence of a comprehensive bus service, there is going to be a lot of pressure on them. Whichever way you arrive at Brighton station, you will need to exit the barriers to access the queue for the Falmer platform (behind W. H. Smith's kiosk). Apparently the trains are less full the nearer it gets to kick off, so brinkmanship may be rewarded.

Getting back is the real difficulty, though, with the club advising that it can take 50 minutes for the queues for trains to dissipate. I can vouch for that, as it took well over an hour to get to my home station (some 10 or 12 miles away!) after an England U. 19 game. If you feel you need a quick getaway, ensure you join the lower level queue to go towards Brighton. Even then, your troubles might not be over as there is another enforced exit and queuing system to get Coastway West services for stations towards Southampton. London-bound trains don't seem to be affected.

It's been suggested that approaching The Amex from the Lewes direction is a smarter move, and this does have its attractions. However, anyone thinking of driving to Lewes should beware that the town is notoriously difficult for parking. In addition, we are flying blind on this one: Albion obviously have a lot of fans in East Sussex and they will all need to be on the trains that stop at Lewes if they travel by rail. It would be annoying if we couldn't get on the transport having tried to be clever! There are long queues to get on the east-bound platform after the game as well - you would need to go over the footbridge this time.

So is there any good news? Well the pub in Falmer (normally recommended) is a non-starter as admission is by home area ticket on match days, so there is only the stadium concourse - as ever, an area that makes the average Wetherspoons seem cosy. However Brighton have made theirs as attractive as possible, and the word from the locals is that it's best to have drink in the ground whilst the crowds thin at the station. And here's the really good bit: they have Harvey's Best Bitter on handpump. I don't expect it to be 'cask conditioned' but at least it isn't 'keg' and a welcome boost on what might be a difficult day, travel-wise.