Brighton returns to English top-flight after 34 years

Aston Villa and Norwich came down with us last season and would’ve expected to be challenging for promotion alongside us, but instead they’re languishing in mid-table. “That’s the first thing”, he told reporters.

The Seagulls achieved the feat with a 2-1 win over Wigan on Tuesday that saw them go seven points clear at the Championship summit with three matches left.

Goalkeeper Stockdale has been an nearly ever-present at the Amex Stadium this season but will he be good enough to perform consistently at the next level?

“Everyone at the club has been working very hard ever since to get to this position”.

“Obviously the changes we made helped, and you could feel the belief coming back. Definitely better away from home”.

At the beginning of the season fans across the country were all too keen to point out to us how tough this league was. We were desperate to keep the main players who had done so well last season. We’ve had a wonderful support, we’ve managed to win games in different ways. We knew how brilliantly he’d done at Leicester and, in the last 18 months it’s been a pleasure watching him. “We recruited well early in the season, in the summer, but it was a real steely determination from the group of players that wanted to do it again”.

Huddersfield’s televised game at Derby is a 5pm kick-off and Hughton said he was not sure if he will be watching.

“It was on in the background”, the Brighton boss said.

“We’ve got to go there and score goals, which we’re managing to do at the moment”.

He added: “We’ve got to consolidate, The gaffer is the ideal man to do that”.

Glenn Murray fired the Seagulls in front shortly before the break with his 22nd league goal of the season before Solly March added a second from close-range.

Barrow was particularly disappointed by the manner in which Wigan conceded the first goal, saying: “We let in a really poor goal”.

Brighton can wrap up the title at Norwich on Friday and Stockdale said: “To come back after an global break when people were doubting us, saying we were going to bottle it again – they were wrong”.

The champagne cork is struggling to be held in the bottle as Brighton & Hove Albion have all-but clinched promotion to the Premier League.

Brighton pitch invasions have tended to be torrid: the closure of the Goldstone Ground, or the near-death experience at Hereford 20 years ago.

But with Latics also in desperate need of points as they continue their own remarkable fight against the drop, Barrow says his men will be up for the fight.