It does not get much better than this for birthday boy Nathan Jones.

Sunday's final of the play-offs will be an occasion to remember for every Albion player, but it will be just that little bit extra special for the exuberant left winger.

For Jones, 31 today, it is a dream, the biggest match of his life in the heart of his homeland.

Cardiff is just a few miles from the village where he was raised and it is also where his career began.

Jones was born in Blaenrhondda, a small mining village about 20 miles north of Cardiff in the Rhondda Valley.

The Seagulls' tricky wide man oozes Welsh fervour when he talks about his background.

"My family still live there and I was back there last weekend," Jones said. "I'm a very patriotic Welshman. My grandfather worked for 52 years down the mine. We are a quintessential Welsh community.

"My mum, dad and everyone around there can remember the really hard times.

"I speak Welsh and I always take an interest in the Welsh economy, Welsh politics, Welsh everything really.

"A play-off final, wherever it was played, would be an amazing occasion.

"The fact that it is at the Millennium Stadium, in the capital city with all my family and friends there, will make it an amazingly proud occasion for me.

"I phoned my dad the other day and he was nearly crying on the phone when we got through against Swindon.

"It was a nice touch as soon as the final whistle went when Virgs (Adam Virgo) just went to his dad, the sort of thing I would have done.

"I know how many sacrifices each and every parent has made for us to be here now. My mum and dad haven't stopped telling me how proud they are."

Jones joined Cardiff as a trainee, but it was only when he dropped out of the League with another Welsh club that he really began to progress.

"Our village is in-between Cardiff and Swansea, so I had a choice who I supported when I was growing up," Jones said.

"Cardiff were always a bigger club. All my mates supported them and then I went on to play for them, so they were probably my team.

"I was at Cardiff as an apprentice for about two and a half years, then I left to play for Merthyr in the Conference. I was bought by Luton from there, then I went to Spain and Southend.

"It was a good move for me. I was a young lad and I wasn't going to get a look-in at Cardiff.

"It was a forward step for me to play first team football in the Conference, rather than doing nothing at a pro club.

"Robbie James was the manager and it was a brilliant experience for me. I worked probably ten times harder than I would have if I had been at a pro club, because I wanted to get back in."

Jones has experienced a big match atmosphere at the Millennium Stadium before, although only from the stands.

"I have been there to watch Wales play. It was a full house and it was just fantastic," he said.

"There are going to be nearly 70,000 there on Sunday. It is a magnificent stadium. Not only is it great for sport, it has also been great for the Welsh economy.

"Every time there is a showpiece game there it puts nearly £60 million into the Welsh economy, which is badly needed.

"Cardiff is now developing as a city and the stadium has played a major part in bringing an influx in business, finance and interest into the principality.:

Everything is in place for an extraordinary day in the footballing life of Nathan Jones. Only one thing can spoil it for him now, the result.

"If we go there and lose we will have a magnificent day out, but then it's a hard slog to try to do it again next year," he said. "This is the culmination of a whole season's work.

"Obviously we would have liked to have gone up automatically, as we have done before, but if you go up through the play-offs it is probably the best way to do it with the build-up and the day itself.

"This is a showpiece final to win. We will have an amazingly hard game against Bristol City, who are a top team.

"They finished third in the League, we finished fourth, so it is fitting that we are the two teams in the final."