Hewn from girders, concrete and glass, but delivered with love and patience, Brighton's new house has become a home. Three hours before kick-off, its concourses were humming as the cynics and the boors fell in with the enthusiasts to relish a day that had taken 14 years to arrive.
They had earned it. Few clubs can recount a back story with as many false starts and as much peril as Albion, whose much-loved Goldstone Ground was sold from underneath them by an addled board in 1997 and replaced by a Burger King. An uneasy groundshare with Gillingham, 75 miles away, followed before two years later returning to Brighton, at the hopelessly inadequate Withdean Stadium, a former zoo and an obvious source of embarrassment.
Fewer still will have had their destiny so firmly driven by fans, first reliant on charity and ingenuity, then the mercy of the erstwhile deputy prime minister, John Prescott, who, in 2005, finally waved through planning permission over a steak and kidney pie. Even Prescott's word was not enough, as nimbyism forced a judicial review, and the land lay fallow for a further two years.
All the while, Albion had pottered on as an earnest yet modest concern, but the arrival of Gus Poyet as manager in 2009 brought bravado and bombast. Months later, Tony Bloom, a gambler, property developer and poker player invested £93m, and replaced Dick Knight as chairman. With Knight remaining as life president, Albion have not looked back.
The Championship seems a good fit for Brighton, yet ambition still burns. In Craig Mackail-Smith they have a £2.5m striker who turned down Norwich City to sign from Peterborough, and already there is talk of adding a further 8,000 seats to the 22,500 in place at the Amex.
For now, it should suffice. Cast into the chalk hills on the outskirts of the borough, with a proximity and views that few new stadiums can match. Its corporate soubriquet may grate, yet the closeness and openness of the club's support compensate. Football's syrupy brand of sentiment can cloy, but when pre-match festivities took in a minute's silence for fans who died since leaving the Goldstone, it felt genuine. This was hardly VJ Day, but it was the end of a battle.
It took Mackail-Smith 11 minutes to make an impact against a subdued Tottenham Hotspur side as the Scotland international found space between Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul, and zipped a cross to Ashley Barnes, who beat Heurelho Gomes from close range.
In Tottenham, Albion could mark the occasion with an illustrious opponent, although the visiting side were a pale impression of the vibrant force that savaged Milan and Inter last season. Luka Modric was notable in his absence, a purported virus doing little to suspend suspicion. The Croat had captained Spurs on their pre-season tour to South Africa, and he is believed to have tempered his desire to move to Chelsea. Whether he can replant himself at the bosom of the club and its fans is another matter.
For now, Spurs look a team on the verge of a transition, if not in the midst of it. Harry Redknapp has been told that he needs to sell in order to improve his squad but interest in the once promising Jermaine Jenas, Jermain Defoe and Sébastien Bassong, among others, has been fleeting. A £25m bid for Juan Mata, the Spanish world champion, is eye-catching if slightly fanciful.
For now they suffer in comparison with their nearest rivals, and body language is poor. The midfielder Rafael van der Vaart lasted 38 minutes before succumbing to the latest in a series of minor gripes and when Kaboul and then Vedran Corluka scored to give the visitors a 2-1 half-time lead, they celebrated with shrugs.
Poyet, once Tottenham's assistant manager under Juande Ramos, was a whir of emotional energy on the Brighton bench as his side made their final preparations for next week's opening game at home to Doncaster Rovers. Albion still suffered in comparison, as they might have expected to, but an extended stay in the Championship seems a realistic goal. Liam Bridcutt showed promise as a midfield shield while Kazenga LuaLua, a winger on loan from Newcastle United, shares more in comparison with his brother, Lomano, than an acrobatic goal celebration. His thumping finish from outside the area was thrilling.
Tottenham reasserted themselves on 69 minutes with a goal from the young midfielder Jake Livermore after some sloppy play from Peter Brezovan, the substitute goalkeeper, but it mattered little, and as Albion's supporters retreated to Dick's bar they could at long last toast a sense of permanence.
