The headline seemed familiar. In bold type The Non League Paper declared "Maskell secures points with a hat-trick."

It referred to how former Albion striker Craig banged in a treble against Heybridge Swifts seven days ago for Hampton and Richmond.

OK, it is Ryman League premier but Maskell, now 33, still knows how to find the net. More importantly it revived memories of the hat-trick he scored for the Seagulls on the day the Goldstone was packed with fans from all over the country for the Fans United day.

The straight men that day were Hartlepool, who took a five-goal mauling as Albion kicked off a home run which helped save their Football League status.

Maskell made his own gesture to the faithful at the soon-to-be demolished Goldstone.

Maskell said: "Normally anyone who scores a hat-trick keeps the match ball but I wanted to give something back to the fans who had suffered so much with us and kissed the ball and threw it into the North Stand.

"Some might not have appreciated what I did on the field that season but I hope they appreciated that gesture.

"It was such a special day. I believe there were around 9,000 there. It brought a lump to my throat.

"I'm glad I can still get the goals even if it is at a lower level. I'm enjoying my football and have already got six this season and finished second top scorer in the division last term when I helped Hampton and Richmond achieve their highest ever placing."

Maskell finished top scorer with 16 goals (14 in the league) during Albion's biggest struggle for status in 1996-97 and came within a whisker of No.17 in the game that saw Albion stay in the league and Hereford ejected out of it.

He said: "Robbie Reinelt, quite rightly, is remembered as the hero of the day for scoring the goal which kept Albion in the league. But what is forgotten is that he scored after my shot hit the post and rolled to him. It doesn't bother me but I could have been hailed the hero!

"I still keep in touch with Robbie as he is in non-league with Braintree."

Maskell played at Old Trafford in front of 52,000 as an 18-year-old for Southampton and in a division one Wembley play-off final victory over Leicester when at Swindon with 80,000 spectators looking on. He also outscored Andy Cole when he grabbed a double for a Football League X1 against an Italy Serie B team which is among countless highlights during a career that also included spells at Huddersfield, Reading, Swindon and Orient But he rates the 1-1 draw with Hereford as the "biggest pressure game of my life".

He said: "Playing at Old Trafford was daunting for a youngster and, of course, a place in the premier was at stake when I played for Swindon.

"Yet the pressure I felt at Hereford was the greatest I've experience because my livelihood, and those of the other players, was at stake, and we knew what a colossal disappointment it would have been for all the supporters had we gone out of the league.

"I think my goals were one reason Albion survived, but the biggest factor was the appointment of Steve Gritt. Jimmy Case was a great player, I played with him for Southampton, but it didn't work out for him as a manager. Steve really turned it around. Funnily enough I saw him pre-season when Hampton and Richmond played Millwall, where he is coaching, and I was glad to show him that I could still score."

Maskell believed his spell with the Seagulls made him stronger.

He said: "It was a character builder. I played through a tough time in the club's history. I was bought by Jimmy Case when it looked like they would be relegated to division three. I think the signings of myself and Ian Baird were the last throw of the dice so I didn't feel responsible when we went down.

"Then the next season we were almost out of the league. The season after that a lot of players, including myself were offered severance pay which we took and I was out of the game for a few months before Orient took me on and I ended up playing my last professional game that season in the play-offs for them. Unlike Swindon, though, Orient lost."

Maskell is delighted at the change of fortunes for the table-topping Seagulls who face one of his old clubs, Huddersfield, with whom he scored 49 goals in two seasons, on October 13.

But he is concerned about the question of a new stadium.

He said: "I'd like to see them get a new stadium like everybody, or rather nearly everybody. But it seems, just like other south coast clubs like Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth, there always seems to be more objections to them than in the North.

"They are going really well and think they could make the play-offs, but if they go up then still being at Withdean will be a problem. It limits the money they can raise to compete. Some players earn £10,000 to £15,000 a week in division one."

Maskell believes he has the best of all worlds.

The striker gave up the professional game to spend more time with his family, wife Alison and daughters Kelly, seven, and Emma, five, and develop his coaching, while playing his football in the south.

He said: "What I do suits me."

Maskell is player coach with Hampton and Richmond and also spends four days coaching players hoping to get a second chance at the Southgate Academy.

He said: "I've always wanted to get into coaching. I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of the Academy. It's been set up by the people I work for, Protec, to help the students' football and combine it with an education for something to fall back on. Through my contacts we get matches against league clubs like Leicester, Orient, Southend to help their development and get them spotted.

"One player we produced, Derek Asamoah, scored his debut goal for Northampton against Albion. We deal with players who have been released or have just slipped the net like Derek. Another is Leroy Griffiths who has just been taken on by QPR."

Maskell has hopes of getting back in the league as a manager.

But he said: "We will have to see. It would be nice, but I'm not majority ambitious. Right now I feel, with Southgate, that I am a manager who can't get the sack through bad results."

In the meantime he plans to play on for at least two more years.

He said: "I just love playing and even when I stop I want to keep involved. Football is like a drug."

Moments like kissing and throwing a hat-trick ball into the crowd is one reason Maskell is addicted.