Forget about going to Wembley and winning a medal in the new year.

Albion skipper Nicky Forster has a more pressing target than that. Even on the eve of a mildly exciting Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie.

Forster wants to ensure his proud boast of never experiencing relegation in a career which started back in the early 1990s remains intact.

The new national stadium is just starting to beckon as the Seagulls prepare for tomorrow night’s JPT southern semi-final at League Two side Shrewsbury Town.

It is called a semi-final but it is essentially a quarter with one two-leg tie to negotiate for the winners before the cup final suits can be ordered.

But it is hard to get too excited about that prospect when you are one place above the League One drop zone.

Forster spoke eloquently about his hopes and worries for the coming weeks when he faced reporters some time after the depressing 4-2 defeat by MK Dons on Friday.

And inevitably Albion’s good cup results so far this season came up in conversation.

He said: “The cup is no good if we are sitting in the relegation zone and going to Wembley. That’s all rubbish.

“We have got to concentrate on our league form.

“The league is our bread and butter, it’s what we are here to do.

“We are aiming to push on and try to get this club into the league above and go into a new stadium with that but at the moment it’s not happening. So forget everything else, forget the cup win over Manchester City, forget the Johnstone’s Paint, we’ve got to try to get some results here and get back up the table."

Asked if he had any comment about the Shrewsbury game, Forster said: “Not tonight, I don’t want to dwell on it, to be honest. This is a wake-up call for us. We’ve got to change things and start picking up results.

“I think sometimes when you are in this position it’s very difficult and you have to scrap tooth and nail just for the merest positive. We did that last week and came away from Oldham with a well-earned point. But we were punished for individual errors (on Friday) and we were outfought at times and that can’t happen.”

Of course, things will be different come tomorrow night.

The pre-game buzz and banter will be there and league tables will be forgotten for one match.

But fans and players alike were keeping an eye on results from League One on Saturday and hoping for a favour or two Having left themselves at the mercy of a Yeovil win over Stockport on Saturday, Albion were heading for the bottom four when the Glovers went 2-1 up.

That lead lasted just two minutes before Stockport went on to win 4-2 at Huish Park.

So it was as-you-were over the weekend then? Well not quite, because struggling teams elsewhere picked up points which in turn kept sides just above Albion within reach.

Crewe beat Swindon and Cheltenham are just two points behind the Seagulls after Ian Westlake’s goal gave the ten-man Robins a win at Leyton Orient.

Former Seagulls did not help their old club at Elland Road, as Dean Hammond and Mark Yeates scored to take Colchester four points clear of Albion.

But what of Forster’s proud never-relegated record?

His closest scrape came way back in his debut season of 1992-93, when Gillingham finished second-bottom (now a relegation berth) in the fourth tier but only one team, Halifax, went down.

He avoided the drop from the Championship by one place and four points with Hull two seasons ago but has generally spent his career contesting promotion with the likes of Brentford, Birmingham, Reading and even Albion last season.

So what now? The 35-year frontman said: “We are making errors at the moment and we are being punished. We’ve got to stop making those errors.

“We are in a relegation scrap and it remains to be seen if we can dig deep and push ourselves out of it. I believe we can but that’s only my own opinion.

“We’ve got to stand up and be counted. We’ve got to grind out some 0-0 draws to start off with. We’ve got to start from basics, start from the bottom.”

He added: “I’ve never been relegated before so I don’t intend to start now.”

l Albion will wear a new white shirt in their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy southern semi-final at Shrewsbury tomorrow night to avoid a colour clash.

The Seagulls will have good backing in Shropshire after more than 200 supporters took up the offer to buy match tickets in advance with free coach travel.

The last few places go up for grabs first thing this morning. Call (01273) 776992 or call in at the ticket office at 5, Queens Road, Brighton, as soon as possible for details.

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