Will Buckley was Albion's FA Cup hero today – against the team he supported as a boy.

The flying winger claimed the 76th-minute clincher as the Seagulls beat Newcastle 1-0 in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

He eased past a couple of tackles before shooting home with the aid of a deflection off Mike Williamson.

Replays suggested the ball might have gone wide without the defender's unwitting intervention - but that did not dampen Buckley's celebration in front of the North Stand.

Albion clung to their advantage with one alarm, a penalty shout for handball by Ashley Barnes, and will join Crawley in tomorrow's fifth round draw.

The win was reward for a hard-working – and patient - Seagulls performance.

They had to dig in defensively and wait for their chance to pounce.

Newcastle striker Leon Best had the two best chances of a cat-and-mouse first half.

He angled a drive narrowly past the far post after taking Yohan Cabaye's searching long ball in his stride.

Best should then have done better than head tamely over after Shola Ameobi had nodded the ball across goal.

Albion had to depend on counter attacks for their moments of excitement and Craig Mackail-Smith saw two shots go wide, the second via a deflection.

Peter Brezovan kept his side on terms with two good saves in quick succession early in the second period.

He used his left foot to deny Best and then his body to deflect an Ameobi shot wide.

Albion struggled to mount any sort of pressure, although Tim Krul had to parry a Mackail-Smith drive midway through the second period after the striker did well to create space for himself just outside the box.

But they hung on in there and, when the excellent Adam El-Abd coolly passed his way out of defence, Buckley made tracks down the left to grab the glory.