When football fan Paul MacDonald lost his camera on the way to see the Albion in their play-off final at Cardiff he never thought he would see it again.

But by chance, another supporter found the camera, developed the snaps and sent one in to The Argus to try and trace the owner.

Paul's eagle-eyed father Doug, 72, spotted the shot of Paul and his son Daniel, nine, posing with Seagulls' manager Mark McGhee on the letters page last week and phoned him to tell him his precious pictures had been found.

Paul, 35, from Wisborough Green, near Billingshurst, said: "I didn't know until we reached the Millennium Stadium, that the camera was missing.

"I realised I had either left it on the roof of my car or on the park-and-ride bus.

"My dad buys The Argus every day. He phoned me to say there was a picture of myself and Daniel in the paper with Mark McGhee - we couldn't believe it."

Paul had taken Daniel and his other son Andrew, 18, to the match at the end of May.

Some of the photographs on the film were of Daniel meeting Albion players at a Junior Seagulls day, at The Triangle in Burgess Hill last December.

Equally important were snaps of a recent fishing trip when Paul and Daniel landed a 4lb carp.

When Paul realised the camera had disappeared he resigned himself to never seeing the pictures.

But fellow supporter, Steve Taylor, 41, from Portslade, had picked it up from the park-and-ride bus in Cardiff and wanted to reunite it with its owner.

He got the pictures developed and put them on the Albion web site.

When that did not work he appealed to The Argus to print one.

He said: "The photographs had been on the Albion web site for a few months and if they had not been claimed from the letters page in The Argus, I had organised with Brighton and Hove Albion to put them in the next match programme."

The photos went unnoticed on the web site but putting them in The Argus prompted the family to get in touch.

Paul, a civil engineer, said: "Sometimes pictures are irreplaceable. We are extremely happy to have the photos back.

"The camera was unimportant, it was the pictures that held sentimental value. It's great to have them both back. I can't thank Steve enough for being so kind and for all the trouble he has gone to. We are truly grateful."