Dave Sexton says winning the Division Three title with Albion has been the highlight of his glittering 51-year career in football.

Sexton has managed Manchester United, guided Chelsea to the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup and been involved in the England set-up on and off for 24 years.

But the season when his 18 goals in 26 games as an inside forward sealed the Championship stands above all that.

Sexton, who will attend Albion's Centenary Evening of Legends at The Brighton Centre tonight, said: "It was my biggest highlight as a player and the most satisfying time of my career when Brighton won the title.

"You enjoy being a player the most. As a manager or coach you are responsible for everything, you are never free.

"But as a player you haven't got those worries. You can just go out, work hard and express yourself and with the Brighton team that year that's what I did.

"The free-scoring, positive approach was such a wonderful experience. It was the first time I'd won anything. It was tremendous."

Sexton says he scored the best and most important goal of his career for Albion as they closed in on the title with four matches to go at Port Vale. It turned him from villain into hero.

He said: "I remember it well. It was dramatic. We were losing, had a penalty which I scuffed it and the goalkeeper saved. I looked around at the players' faces. Their look of disappointment is one I'll never forget. It was an awful feeling.

"But I made up for it by getting an equaliser. It was a bullet header from a rocket cross by Frankie Howard who, with Dennis Gordon, supplied a lot of my goals by whizzing down the wing to provide a fantastic service.

"The sense of I relief I felt is still with me now because we really needed that point to keep on track for the title.

"But there was a down side, because I had gone for the ball with the centre-half. I ended up underneath him, crumpled up on the floor with ligament damage and missed the last three games. My replacement Adrian Thorne, though, came in and scored five goals in our final game against Watford."

Sexton and his teammates suffered when they kicked off in the Second Division the following season, suffering a 9-0 reverse at Middesbrough.

He remembers the trials and tribulations of goalkeeper Dave Hollins, brother of Swansea manager John, who played for him at Chelsea.

Sexton, who scored 28 goals in 53 appearances for Seagulls before moving to his final club Crystal Palace, said: "I was rooming with Dave up there and gave him all the talk.

"Middlesbrough were a good side, but I told him to treat it like any other game. Poor fellow. Nine of the goals were his fault and Brian Clough got five.

"We then lost 5-0 to Liverpool. It wasn't the best of starts but we managed to pull things around and ended up mid-table."

Having arrived at Albion via Chelmsford City, Luton, West Ham and Orient, Sexton liked to cut a dash.

He said: "There were a lot of baggy shorts around in those days. But when I was at West Ham we were all struck by the Hungarian's short shorts as well as they're fantastic football in 1953.

"So when I got to Brighton I cut my shorts in a similar style."

He was signed by Billy Lane for £3,000 in October, 1957 and was immediately impressed.

He said: "Mr Lane was a very affable, quietly spoken bloke who loved attacking football and that suited me down to the ground. We got on very well, he was a striker like me and was interested in boxing and knew my dad Archie, who is joint holder of the British record for knockouts with 78.

"All the players got on well, but a lot of what we achieved stemmed from the manager's positive approach."

It was during his second and final season that Sexton got involved in coaching with the help of his former West Ham pal George Petchey, who went on to coach Albion.

He said: "It was George who got me on my first couple of practical coaching courses in Brighton and it all grew from there.

"Ron Greenwood, who I knew from Hove, was a big influence too and he appointed me England under-21 manager in 1977. He was a very studious football man."

Sexton remained in Hove, later commuting to Chelsea and then QPR, before taking up the Old Trafford job.

He said: "I love it at Brighton. I live in the Midlands at the moment, but that is just to be central so I can go and watch games for Sven Goran-Eriksson. But when I retire I'll move back down like a shot.

"I'm back every couple of weeks to see my daughter Anne and my grandchildren James, Richard and Charlie."

Sexton, who has watched Seagulls at Withdean this season, is delighted Albion's current side has emulated his team's efforts to win the Division Three title.

He said: "I've been down to Withdean about three times this season and they've done well. They've got a good goalscorer in Bobby Zamora. I just hope they can hang on to him for next season."

Sexton has no plans to quit the game that has been his life just yet. The 71-year-old said: "I'll go on for as long as someone wants me."