Craig Carolan hailed Brighton's tremendous team spirit after scoring the goals which sent his side into a fifth successive Sussex Cup final.

The prolific South African marksman scored all five as Brighton beat Chichester, from a division above, 5-4 on a golden goal to clinch a final showdown with East Grinstead at Hastings on Sunday.

And Carolan, who moved south after a distinguished career in the National League, immediately declared he wants to finish his career with Brighton.

The player-coach has scored a staggering 73 goals in 21 league games this year and there are many who believe he can still play at the top level. Carolan, though, is going nowhere.

He said: "I know I scored the goals but the ball has to get to me and it was purely down to phenomenal team play that it did.

"At the end of normal time, you would have thought our heads would be down but the guys made a mental decision to go out and win the game.

"These guys would get into the trenches for each other. It makes a huge difference. When the chips are down like that everyone just gets closer whereas with other teams it takes them apart.

"I don't think any other team in the league has the same kind of spirit as us. I won't play for another hockey club all the while I play because of the spirit here."

The first five goals were all from short corners. Carolan opened the scoring from Brighton's first on six minutes but that was soon cancelled out by Adam Beere.

Carolan restored the lead six minutes from half time but Neil Pendle's powerful response a minute into the second half drew Chichester level again.

When Carolan scored with a tremendous drag flick on 50 minutes and then again from open play after Richard Cook and Ricky Fraser had linked to send him clear, the match looked to be over.

Brighton's high-tempo game marked them down as winners throughout the second half and other chances went begging before Chi struck twice in added time at the end, first through Jack Lerwell and then Adam Beere.

However, the hosts seized control straight from the start of extra time and grabbed the winner just four minutes in when Fraser won a penalty flick which Carolan coolly converted to start the celebrations among a large Brighton crowd.

Skipper Carlo Missirian said: "When we went 4-2 up we were playing the game we wanted to play. We were creating a lot of chances and if we had put half of them away we wouldn't have had a problem.

"Two years ago we went to extra time with Chichester in the final and they scored the golden goal then. We knew we were going to score it today because we were the better team."

Chi will be playing in the same league as Brighton next season following their relegation from South Premier division one.

Skipper Sam Beere had already stated he expects his side to go straight back up and that spurred Brighton on.

Missirian said: "Chichester wanted a benchmark. Well, we beat them when we were three leagues below and we beat them when we were two leagues below."