Former Swansea man Andrea Orlandi reckons Albion have sent out a play-off message – by beating what used to be his arch rivals.

Orlandi scored a neatly-taken 43rd-minute opener as the Seagulls won 2-0 at Cardiff.

Success against the leaders closes the gap on the top six to just two points.

Orlandi would love to join his old Swans mates in the top-flight and said: “For me scoring here and winning at Cardiff is fantastic.

“I will enjoy it more, definitely, being a former Swansea player and obviously for us it was vital.

“That was the chance for us. If we didn’t win tonight we knew it was going to be difficult (to get into the play-offs). We have shown we can still do it.”

Orlandi reckons Albion kept their heads against good opponents. He added: “They put us under pressure but we kept calm and cool. They had chances but we kept calm which was maybe one of our weaknesses during the season.”

Tomasz Kuszczak excelled in goal for Albion, his heroics including a brilliant double-save from Craig Bellamy.

The goalkeeper said: “That one was key. It was quite early in the game.”

He added: “This was the kind of game we have had many times this season at home. We attack, we attack, we can’t score and we draw the game or lose.

“Maybe we have passed that form to Cardiff now. I hope they are going to have that and we are going to keep winning!”