“Who knows? Newcastle might end up pipping Albion by a point or two. But, for now, their win at Huddersfield is looking like a Godsend.”

Those were some of the words I filed for The Argus on the first Saturday evening of March. Pretty prophetic, eh?

Albion had just gone down 3-0 at Nottingham Forest and lost Shane Duffy to what was clearly a significant injury.

They were there for the taking by a fast-charging Huddersfield side playing the best football in the Championship at that time.

But then the Terriers found their luck was out at home to Newcastle in the 5.30pm kick-off as they lost 3-1.

They remained six points adrift of the second-placed Seagulls with a game in hand and they never got any closer.

We would never have believed it on March 6 but Huddersfield were happy just to be in the play-offs by the end of the season.

Actually, if you listen carefully, you can still hear David Wagner somewhere in the distance claiming the pressure is all on Sheffield Wednesday.

For me, the minutes after that defeat at Forest were a sort of Alpine Valley moment for Albion.

It felt like they were in a place right down in the depths during that post-match in front of the old main stand at the City Ground.

In fact they were still at a rarefied altitude, thousands of feet above where they started in August and just one tough climb from the peak. It just didn’t look like it.

What happened next defined their season – two seasons, actually, in this quest for Premier League football – and sent them to the prize of promotion with so much to spare.

The Argus:

Huddersfield were, for me, the best team in the division for several weeks early this year. That period included the start of February, when Albion went to the John Smith’s Stadium and were swept aside (pictured above).

But you need to keep doing it for months on end, very often twice a week.

The Terriers were supremely fit and, as they showed against Manchester City in the FA Cup, had a strong squad. But even they could not maintain a pace, a rhythm, a level and an intensity which you need to produce for pretty much the whole season.

That run-in is the period of the season which showed just how strong this Albion collective was.

Seven wins out of eight took them from a position of some vulnerability to one of being carried shoulder-high down Queen’s Road on a Monday night.

True, there are individual highlights I would pick out from before that.

Norwich and Reading at home, Fulham and Sheffield Wednesday both home and away.

The Argus:

Glenn Murray scores against Wigan

But the manner in which they bounced back from Forest with 21 points from the next 24 while Huddersfield took 13 and Newcastle nine was decisive.

If we are talking about Brighton sporting greats, it was a bit like that bloke whose statue they might glimpse down Madeira Drive as they set off on their bus ride tomorrow.

The Seagulls gritted their teeth and kicked for home like Steve Ovett with a lap or two to go when the going got tough.

Admittedly they were then passed at the end when they were smiling and waving at the crowd.

Now that never happened when Ovett did likewise on the home straight.

And, yes, in the end Newcastle did pip them by a point or two.

But it did not matter in the race for that coveted top-two finish.

Two months ago, it was bucking the trend to say that Newcastle’s win might actually be a bad result for Albion.

It looks like a very clever statement now, even if I say so myself.

Which is where I should probably come clean. The version which appeared in The Argus on March 6 was slightly different to that I have typed out above.

It said Newcastle could pip Albion by a point or two - for second place!

That is how much of a three-way battle it was at the time.

Resilient Albion hit full power at just at the right time.