LOAN star Gary Dicker has revealed he played without pay to help Albion complete their dramatic push for safety.

Dicker found himself in the bizarre situation of playing against his parent club as Stockport allowed the Seagulls to use him in the final game of the League One campaign.

He responded with a typically effective midfield display capped by the rasping shot which led to Nicky Forster’s winning goal.

What we did not know at the time was Dicker found himself with something in common with the Stockport players he faced. Like them, he had not been paid recently by the crisis-torn Cheshire club.

The 22-year-old Irishman admitted: “The way the loan works is they (Stockport) still pay me and they are reimbursed at the end of the season.

“I haven’t been paid this month. I’m not complaining. There’s a lot more players there who haven’t been paid.

“It’s just a sad thing the way it has happened but I’m not going to let it affect me.

“I don’t think any of the Stockport lads let it affect them. They put in everything.

“I just got on with the job, then I’ll worry about getting paid.

“When you’re younger you play for free anyway, don’t you? But hopefully we can get it sorted soon.”

Dicker admitted pre-game phone calls to mates at Edgeley Park had focussed on money as well as football.

He said: “You’re always asking questions but it’s hard to know where it has gone wrong and who to ask.

“The girls in the office at Stockport have been brilliant, keeping in contact.

“We were meant to get paid last week so I think we could be getting it next week.”

Asked how much he had discussed the game with County’s players, he said: “I was speaking to a few of them. It was ‘who's playing?’ and stuff but there’s only so much you can know.

“You can only go out and do the job and I thought we deserved to win the game.”

Dicker was a desperately disappointed figure as he spoke to The Argus three weeks previously after the home defeat by Swindon.

But, with safety now secured, he pinpoints what happened in the days after that game as the turning point of the season.

Success at Colchester 48 hours later started a decisive run of four wins and a draw in five games against mid-table sides.

Dicker admitted the thought of relegation was at the back of his mind on Easter Saturday but added: “We kicked on after that and got the win at Colchester.

“That just breathed confidence back into us straight away.

“I think if we had even only got a draw at Colchester it maybe would have been different but the win there got us right back in it. I don’t think we have looked back since.

“It was two days later and we got straight back to business with a win.

“I think that was a massive confidence boost for the lads after the disappointment of Swindon because we knew we should have got something out of that game.

“Since then we’ve got better and better.”

Stockport did their bit to contribute to a record league gate at Withdean by filling the West Stand but the afternoon was all about the colour, the noise and, at times, the nerves of the Albion fans.

Dicker admitted all the atmosphere and emotion transmitted itself across the running track.

He said: “I didn’t expect it to be that loud when I came out.

“To see all the blue and white was brilliant. The fans played a part, definitely. You’re always going to be nervous but we controlled it, we didn’t do too much sloppy.

“We did what we had to, we cleared it when we had to and I think we grew it into it.

“I personally didn’t know the other scores. You’re better off not knowing.You should have the same concentration, do the same things.

“I think it’s good that way we just got on with it.

“We knew if we won we were staying up so it was just brilliant to get the win.”

And what a way to clinch it. The Stockport man getting in a shot and Forster, whose season seemed over until very recently, popping up for the finish.

That’s Forster the substitute for a substitute after injuries struck Gary Hart and Calvin Andrew.

It has been a season of injuries to strikers but, a bit like that loose ball coming back on to Forster’s right foot 17 minutes from time, things fell very nicely for them this time.We were wheeling him out at half-time,” Dicker said. “That’s his game, what he’s all about.

“He’s a goalscorer and I wasn’t shocked when I saw him on the end of the shot.

“It was a great finish and a great day for him.”