Rare examples of football memorabilia are expected to raise about £2,000 when they are auctioned next month.

Two Brighton and Hove Albion match cards from 1899, when the club was called Brighton United, are to be sold at Sotheby's.

A silver salver presented to the former Albion manager Alan Mullery is also being sold.

The cards, forerunners of modern match programmes, commemorate away games with Southampton.

They are unusual for having photographs, rather than drawings, on the front.

Sotheby's football expert Graham Budd said: "I can't remember ever seeing a card which dates back further than 1899. They are from the very earliest days of professional football and are extremely interesting."

Each is part of a set of four cards. Together, the sets are expected to raise about £1,800.

The engraved silver salver was presented to Alan Mullery for the Peter O'Sullivan testimonial match on April 22, 1980, and is expected to be sold for about £200.

Mr Budd said: "Alan was a well-known Albion character and these items should attract a lot of interest from club fans."

Mr Mullery, 58, a one-time England captain, was the manager who guided the Albion from Division Three to Division One during the late Seventies.

Mr Budd said: "He was the most successful manager in the club's history."

More than 600 items, 363 of which are football related, will go under the hammer during the sports sale in London on July 14.