ALBION fans may have to wait until the final match of the season to know if their team are going up as champions but they still got into the party spirit at their last home match before we head into the Premier league.

Despite the 1-0 defeat at home to Bristol City on Saturday they still feel immensely proud after Albion guaranteed automatic promotion to the Premier League in April and got into the party spirit.

The result meant the Seagulls are yet to claim the title but crowds stayed behind after the game to cheer and watch the end of season lap of honour.

Pat Heading, who was at the Amex with his family and friends, said: “This is the absolute pinnacle for the club and it is fantastic for the community.

“I am even more pleased for the people who have been supporting Albion for the last 50-odd years, it is so sweet for them.”

Pat, from Brighton, added: “The Amex is a community stadium. Just the name adds to the feel that this is everyone’s club. I am so proud and pleased for the entire community.

“Albion games are such a good family day out. The atmosphere is just incredible, and it shows what a family club this is. It is all about these days and we all deserve it.”

Pat’s friend Tony Avery played for Albion’s reserves in the early 1970s.

Tony said: “There is a real family feel within the club and I think that is why it is run so well.”

That family feeling has grown strong this season, and 75-year-old lifelong fan Beryl Reeves feels it is the main reason for their success.

She said: “The club just has a beautiful togetherness about it. I think that stems from the fact Tony Bloom is an Albion fan himself.

“The closeness of the squad is such a big factor in our success, I feel. When Steve Sidwell held up Knockaert’s shirt in the reverse fixture against Bristol just after his father died, I was in tears. Promotion was just meant to be this year.”

Beryl’s friend Dorothy Allwright, of Lancing, was clad in Albion colours for the final home game of the season. She said: “I have been a season ticket holder since the Withdean days. I absolutely love the club and it is an incredible feeling knowing we’ll be in the Premier League next season.”

Season ticket holder Sabir Ahmed carved up his own cardboard Championship trophy in the hope that Albion would be lifting the real thing.

Sabir, 40, from Brighton, said: “I’ve been taking my family and friends since Albion were at Withdean. I really started to worry when there was about ten games left. Doubt just comes into your mind and where we have been so close before I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

“The key next year is just staying in the Premier League. We need to make a few signings, but we are not far off being good enough for the big league.”

Sabir and his family’s chants of “we are champions” will have to wait until May 7 against Aston Villa.

Speaking after the game, Roger Noakes, 71, from Haywards Heath, said: “If you said to me at the beginning of the season that we’d be in the play-offs I would have been over the moon.”

Roger, an Albion fan of 35 years, added: “It was just an off-day. Nothing we were doing was working which was frustrating but it happens.”

Stewart Darroch, 42, from Withdean, said: “It has been a brilliant season. The main aim was to just get promoted. Winning the league would be nice but I’m not really fussed.”

Dennis Thomas was in the North Stand for the match.

Dennis, 61, said: “It was obviously disappointing not to win. It felt like a bit of a hangover from the promotion after the Wigan game, however it is still great to be going up.”