They are going through different emotions this week to practically every other player in the Albion camp.

The vast majority can be certain of their role for the final of the play-offs against Bristol City at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday.

For Gary Hart and Paul Reid there is a gut-wrenching wait to discover who manager Mark McGhee will plump for on the right side of midfield.

Will he opt for the more abrasive and direct qualities of the long-serving and self-deprecating Hart or the more cultured style of Reid, the young Australian who until recently was languishing in Bradford's reserves?

Hart, a regular since joining the Seagulls from non-League Stansted six seasons ago, lost his spot to Reid for last month's home fixture against Peterborough but replaced him in the second half of both legs against Swindon.

"I am the one who has been left out at the moment and it isn't a nice feeling, especially with such a big game coming up," Hart admitted. "Everyone wants to be playing, but you have got to go with whatever the manager chooses.

"I would like to be playing but so would Reidy.

"Everyone gets on in the team and there will be no hard feelings. It will be up to the gaffer at the end of the day."

Hart made his 250th League appearance for Albion when he came on in the first leg against Swindon at the County Ground.

"I have been here a long time now and been a regular in the first team," he said. "To be left out for a little while does hit you, because I haven't really been through that before.

"But I have stayed positive, the gaffer has been putting me on and I feel as though I have done a job when I have come on.

"That is what I will keep on doing. If I am on the bench on Sunday and come on it will be exactly the same."

Hart's tenacious, all-action approach means he is appreciated by fans, if not by himself.

"I don't really rate myself too much," he said with astonishing candour. "I always put myself down all the time but the other night when I came on I really enjoyed myself against Swindon.

"I have always been like that. Even if people have come up to me after a game and said 'You played really well, you changed the game' or things like that I just don't take in what they say to me.

"That is not a bad thing, it stops you from being over-confident."

Hart demonstrated his versatility against Swindon at Withdean. Introduced initially in a straight swap for Reid, he was then switched to his former role as an orthodox striker when Adam Hinshelwood took over from the injured Leon Knight.

"I know I went up front in the end, but I felt I played well for the first time in a little while," Hart said.

"I know it wasn't one of the best of games, but getting through when it looked as if we were down and out made it one of the most exciting I have played in.

"Now I just cannot wait for Sunday, whether I am playing or not. I don't know what the other lads are like, they might be a bit calmer.

"It has been a normal week so far, although we have wound training down a little bit because everyone is getting tired at this stage of the season.

"If we are playing well then I don't fear anyone. We went up to Bristol recently and drew 0-0. They didn't look the best in their play-off games either. I thought Hartlepool were unlucky against them.

"It is an even game, but now we have got past my bogey team Swindon I am confident we are going to win."

Confidence is a trait readily associated with his fellow countrymen, but Reid is rather more reserved than the archetypal Australian.

Being involved in a promotion push was a distant dream for the 24-year-old from Sydney until a couple of months ago, when former Albion schoolboy Michael Standing recommended his Bradford team-mate to the Seagulls.

"Before I signed Michael said Brighton are in play-off contention and there is a chance of going to Cardiff," Reid recalled.

"I just wasn't thinking about that. Now it has come true. It has been an unbelievable change for me over the past couple of months.

"I've been quite happy with the way things have gone. I guess it is not my natural position on the right side of midfield, but if the manager is going to pick me out there I'll play there.

"In the last couple of games I haven't been at my best. Against Swindon it didn't really suit the way I play.

"It's nice to have competition. I am just working hard in training and there is nothing much more I can do. Hopefully I will get the nod on Sunday."

Reid flies back Down Under straight after Sunday's match, by which time he hopes his future beyond this season will be clearer.

"Nothing has been finalised," he said. "I am flying home to Australia on Monday, so hopefully something can get sorted out.

"I am going back there for three weeks. I have to go back there every summer because I don't see my family for the rest of the year."

Reid, who made his full away debut for Albion in last month's goalless deadlock at Bristol City, would like nothing better than to be boarding the plane as a First Division player again.

"We defended very well down at Bristol City and we are going to have to do that again on Sunday and create a few more chances than we did then," he said. "Hopefully we can just get a 1-0. That will do us."