Micky Adams is sidestepping a nostalgic return to Southampton tomorrow as the curtain comes down on an epic season for his team.

Albion's manager regards The Dell as the scene of his best years as a player.

He feels honoured that the Seagulls are the final visitors to play there, even though he will be miles away in Cardiff watching the third division play-off final.

"The last ever game at The Dell is an occasion to savour," said Adams.

"I have seen some quality players have absolute stinkers at The Dell. If you are not used to it, it can be a really intimidating place to play.

"It's one of those old style grounds where the stands are really on top of you and Southampton have survived over the years because of their home record.

"I had very happy times there. I possibly played the best football of my career there, although some might disagree!

"I really matured, because I was playing with better players. I was a hod carrier for some decent bricklayers.

"We had some great players, Tim Flowers in goal, Shearer, Ruddock, Le Tissier and the Wallace brothers."

Albion fans are worried Adams could turn from hod carrier to hod successor.

He is still widely regarded as a candidate for the Saints post so controversially vacated by Glenn Hoddle.

The Seagulls' visit tomorrow is a rather uncomfortable coincidence. They were selected some time ago as the last side to play at The Dell because they were also the first, in September 1898.

That was also the first competitive fixture for the club known then as Brighton United.

Southampton, the reigning Southern League champions, beat them 4-1 in front of an 8,000 crowd, many of whom travelled from Brighton by special train.

The pitch markings were rather different in those days and Tim Carder's club history reveals that the Brighton team wore green shirts with white shorts.

The side for a match started by the Mayor of Southampton was made up of nine Scots, one Irishman and a solitary Englishman.

Brighton lost Willie McArthur after 20 minutes with a kick on the jaw which required stitches at Southampton Infirmary.

Roddy McLeod from Leicester Fosse, an English cup winner with West Bromwich Albion six years earlier, scored the goal.

Goalkeeper Leo Bullimer from Reading kept the score down against a Southampton line-up which included three internationals and went on to retain the Southern League title.

The south coast rivals met each other 25 more times in the Southern League and they have clashed on 28 occasions in the Football League.

Albion have struggled down the years against the Saints, winning only six of those League encounters, drawing eight and losing 14, ten of them at The Dell.

The last match between the teams still haunts one of Adams' predecessors Chris Cattlin.

It was in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at The Goldstone in March 1986, when Albion were in the old Second Division and Southampton the First.

Cattlin controversially recalled striker Mike Ferguson after a five week absence, a decision he later admitted was a mistake.

A Southampton side managed by Chris Nicholl and including Peter Shilton and Mark Wright ran out comfortable 2-0 winners in front of a crowd of over 25,000.

The Saints lost to eventual winners Liverpool in the semi-finals, while Cattlin lost his job a few weeks later.

The clubs have been far apart ever since. Southampton are in the Premiership and about to move into the Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium.

Adams believes tomorrow's historic encounter emphasises the need for Albion to move into a new stadium of their own at Falmer.

"It's a bit like us at Withdean," he said. "It was all right for us in the Third Division, but is it going to be adequate for us in the Second?

"Southampton have got to get more people coming in to compete.

"They would always have survived with 15,000 at The Dell, but moving into a new stadium and playing in front of 30,000 gives them a chance of success."