Albion boss Peter Taylor wants a good FA Cup run to boost the promotion push.

He believes it will help rather than hinder the Seagulls in their quest for a place in Division One next season.

Albion kick-off their first FA Cup campaign under Taylor against Shrewsbury at Withdean on Saturday.

The 1983 runners-up are seeking to end a wretched recent record in the competition of eight successive exits by the second round stage.

"If it's your year it's your year," Taylor said. "You could go out in the first round, you could have a terrific run.

"Last year and the year before I got to the quarter-finals with Leicester and Gillingham, so you just never know.

" I think a good Cup run helps. It's good for the players to play against higher division teams and it's good for the supporters. Everybody wants promotion, but it's a nice day off from that.

"The only time it is ever a hinderance is if you get loads of suspensions or injuries from Cup games, then it might get in the way.

"But for Brighton and the rest of the Second Division teams we should be trying to get as far as we can in the competition."

Taylor's Gillingham were lying third in the Second Division when they launched their FA Cup campaign.

They knocked out Cheltenham, Darlington, Walsall, Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday before losing at Chelsea in the last eight, but it did not damage their promotion bid.

They still finished third in the table and went up via the play-offs.

"It meant we were a few League matches behind, but as long as you recover that your are okay and thankfully we did," Taylor said.

Taylor took Leicester past York, Aston Villa and Bristol City last season before they were upset at home by the Seagulls' Division Two rivals Wycombe Wanderers.

Avoiding the same fate against a Shrewsbury side which has gone beyond the first round only once in the last five years will land Albion a £30,000 bonus under AXA's sponsorship of the competition.

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