A plucky girlfriend took advantage of the leap year to pop the question pitch side in front of nearly 20,000 people.
Bride-to-be Tabatha Lewis asked boyfriend Darren Downer during the half-time break at the game between Albion and Millwall.
The 29-year-old mother-of-two from Ringmer surprised her boyfriend at Tuesday night’s game to make the first public proposal at Albion’s new ground.
Miss Lewis said the couple hadn’t set a date for the big day but had discussed the possibility of a reception at the American Express Community Stadium.
The full-time mother told The Argus it was the first time the couple had been able to get a babysitter and have a night out together since the birth of their son, Braxton, seven months ago.
Miss Lewis said the couple had been friends for years before finally becoming a couple around three years ago.
She added: “Darren had been thinking about proposing but he was nervous about doing it so I thought I would get in there first.
“I know one of Gully’s Girls so we went pitch side with her so it wasn’t that obvious what I was going to do.
“The stadium announcer then started talking about it being a leap year and handed the microphone to me.
“I was sick to the stomach with nerves and I was just hoping Darren wouldn’t say no but luckily he said yes quite quickly.
“After Darren said yes, the Albion fans started cheering but the Millwall fans started chanting ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.
“Darren was just really shocked and he rang me up from work the next day and said he was still in a state of shock.
“We hadn’t really had the chance to have many romantic Valentine’s days because I spend most of my time looking after my seven-year-old son Owen.
“We think we’ll probably get married in two years time so we can save up enough money.”
The couple are following in the romantic footsteps of Kev Attwood and Sue King who in July last year became the first couple to wed at the Amex.
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