Robbie Reinelt's abiding memory is not scoring the most important goal in Albion's 115-year history.

Or referee Neale Barry's final shrill at Hereford, which signalled an indelible footprint in folklore for a journeyman substitute.

Reinelt's recall of the Football League relegation decider two decades ago today centres on the relief of a team-mate rescued from ridicule.

How different the story would have been, both for Albion and Kerry Mayo, if the defender's earlier own goal had been decisive.

Mayo's reaction to his precious equaliser remains the stand-out moment for Reinelt of the day his biography changed forever.

"It's still Kerry running and jumping on my back," he said. "It's like it was yesterday. I wouldn't want him to jump on my back now, he's put a bit of timber on!

"He ran so far, jumped on my back and the first thing he said to me was 'You've just saved my life'. People say, no, he didn't say that, it's just a bit of a story.

"He literally did say that. He's a Brighton lad, I can't imagine what he must have been going through. He held it together well, even at half-time.

"He didn't have his head down, he was always a positive lad, but that photograph with him jumping on my back....it's not the goal itself."

Twenty years on, our conversation takes place at the Amex, the spanking stadium which will be hosting Premier League football next season and housing the Championship trophy if Albion maintain or stretch their one-point advantage over Newcastle at Villa Park on Sunday.

 

Many have played a role in the club's dramatic transformation, few more transparently than Reinelt, who has just been on a guided tour of the ground.

"It's a lot different from the Goldstone days," he said. "Single baths, not a communal bath, nice warm showers, not dripping showers, paint staying on the walls, and it feels like an atmosphere here.

"I turned up at the Goldstone when there was a bit of a sour taste in the mouth. They've pushed on a lot since I was here."

Reinelt's route to history-maker was curious. He joined Albion from Colchester, where he was playing regularly for a team eighth in the table.

"I had my ups and downs at Colchester," he said. "Some would say I was a little bit of a silly boy. When we got the call that Brighton were interested I sat down with the manager, Seve Wignall, and we decided it would be in my best interests if I went.

"Some people said I should have stayed, going to a club adrift at the bottom of the Football League. But in the end you take the paths that are thrown at you."

The Argus: The one chucked at Reinelt was a club in deep strife and yet, under the astute leadership of manager Steve Gritt (far right above) and his jovial assistant, Jeff Wood (far left), clinging onto normality.

It felt to Reinelt, for all the problems on and off the pitch, like a dressing room pressing for promotion, not doomed to the devil of demotion.

"It was a really weird situation when I came here," he said. "I expected it to be downbeat, a bit depressing. In actual fact, the atmosphere was better at Brighton than at Colchester.

"It was a different type of pressure they were under. In training we were laughing and joking, doing games and set pieces, everything normal you would do.

"If anything we were having more fun. The supporters would probably find that strange but, if the manager puts more pressure on you, it could have been a lot worse.

"Steve got it so right, to keep it light, lively. Hard training sessions? What was the point of running people into the ground? If they were not fit at that time of the season they were never going to be.

"It was as though we were a better and higher placed team than Colchester.

"Steve and Jeff took a lot of the pressures away, especially from younger players like myself, Kerry, Jeff (Minton, below). They and the older players took the burden of the pressures. They tried to keep the problems going on with the Board and supporters away from us. We were there purely to play football.

The Argus: "That's what I found most heartening. We were made to treat it as normal training sessions, normal games, everything else went out of the window.

"Everything else was nothing to do with you, you can't control it, and we couldn't. We couldn't control what the Board were doing. It was proved right from pulling all those points back."

Reverse psychology played a part on the final day, when Albion clawed the last point they needed. Reinelt believes Mayo's own goal inadvertently assisted the cause of a team which, under Gritt, had grown accustomed to winning at the Goldstone but losing away from home.

"I would have preferred to have gone to Hereford needing to win the game," he said. "Supporters told me a draw was the best thing, because of our away record.

"A draw lulls you into a false sense of security. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we went 1-0 behind and that kind of geed us up.

"We were in a fight, they needed to win, we needed something. When we had something to fight for is when we kicked on."

Reinelt has a "real job" now, as part of South-Eastern (not Southern) Rail's track maintenance team.

Even if it was Southern, the thousands of Albion supporters that have endured travel disruption in the ongoing train company's dispute would forgive him.

"I'm very honoured that people still remember me," he said. "It's part of history, something to tell my daughter and grandchildren."

What happened to Hereford?

Hereford United spent nine seasons in the Conference after Albion relegated them.

They were promoted back to the Football League in 2005-06 and went up again via the play-offs to League One two seasons later.

They finished bottom, had dropped back out of the League by 2011-12, were relegated from the Conference in 2013-14, then wound up in December 2014.

Reformed as Hereford FC, they have ran away with the Southern League division one south and west title this season - the eighth tier of English football.

And the others?

Twenty-nine different clubs have been relegated from the Football League since Albion sent Hereford down.

Only 13 are Football League clubs now, including new National League champions Lincoln City.

Of the 16 clubs no longer in the Football League, Scarborough, Chester and Rushden and Diamonds have all reformed.