Brighton progressed to the Southern Area final to play Luton over two legs after seeing off Shrewsbury on penalties.

As said before I didn't go as didn't fancy the long journey to see us lose.

I still stand by my decision not to go as it was a late night, but overall a great result.

Shrewsbury dominated the first half in front of a half empty Prostar Stadium. A nice new stadium far better than the old one. The atmosphere seemed ok with 450 or so Albion taking up the offer of free travel and making lots of noise even some Santa's turned up!!

In the second half Brighton could have bagged a couple of goals with Cox coming nearest. Davies for Shrewsbury had their best chance but he blasted over. Sullivan was by far the best player pulling off some tremendous saves and commanding his box well. This was recognised by him picking up the man of the match title. The game finished 0-0 so to penalties it was!

They were taken in front of the Shrewsbury fans, Albion started first, they scored all five of their penalties and Shrewsbury had put away their four, so up stepped prolific goal scorer Grant Holt a 170k signing from Nottingham Forest in the summer. His penalty was poor and was saved by Sullivan and Albion were through to the final.

The final first leg is at home on commencing Jan 13 and the away leg is w/c 16th Feb. Win these and we will play either Scunthorpe or Rotherham in the final at Wembley. The thought of possibly seeing Brighton play there is very exciting, I hope we get the opportunity.