May 16: Swindon 0 Albion 1

The Seagulls have their noses in front for Thursday's semi-final second leg at Withdean, thanks to Richard Carpenter's 72nd-minute winner in the Wiltshire sunshine yesterday.

It was Albion's lucky day. Not only did the winning goal come with the help of a deflection to fly inside the near post but the Seagulls were also saved by the woodwork on two occasions.

McGhee, though, will argue they earned their luck for the way they tackled this most demanding of fixtures in a red hot atmosphere at a near-capacity County Ground.

From the moment midfielder Charlie Oatway went round his team mates just before kick-off swapping high fives to the last few seconds when he kept possession near the corner flag, this was an Albion performance packed with character and determination.

It was built on the safe handling of Ben Roberts on his way to a sixth successive clean sheet and featured sterling performances from all players with defensive duties, plus a bit of know-how as the visitors ran down the clock and infuriated home fans in the process.

Now the question is whether McGhee really needs to introduce a home-game mentality for the return fixture, given that Albion will start with a 1-0 lead.

The Seagulls boss did enough to suggest that caution will be the watch word.

When asked if fans could expect to see a different approach at Withdean, he replied: "That is something we will have to consider.

"If we get the first goal it will make life very difficult for Swindon.

"However, we have shown we can defend so it's not going to be helter skelter.

"We will have a disciplined performance. We are not a free scoring team and we will not expect to score three or four goals against a team like Swindon. We will have a game plan."

Talking of strategy, the decision to introduce Gary Hart as a second-half substitute yesterday did not work out too badly.

He had been on for just four minutes when he got forward in support of some classic target man work by big Chris Iwelumo just inside the box and laid the ball off for Carpenter to unleash a right foot strike for his sixth and surely most crucial goal of a pleasingly productive campaign.

It was one of the few occasions when Albion were able to get midfielders forward in a contest which will not have thrilled the television audience but will live long in the memories of the travelling fans packed behind that goal.

The first half was predictably frenetic and, for 35 minutes, disappointingly low on quality.

Then a couple of moments of inspiration from home midfielder Sammy Igoe almost unhinged the Seagulls' defensive effort.

First, the former Portsmouth midfielder robbed Oatway just inside the Swindon half and began a lightning counter-attack which ended in Tommy Mooney heading wastefully wide from six yards after Sam Parkin had picked him out at the far post.

A minute from the break, the hosts went even closer, Igoe swapping passes with Mooney and seeing his swirling 20-yard drive crash back off the far post.

Parkin also dragged a shot weakly wide and Albion were hanging on a bit as the first half ended.

Until that flurry of activity, they had done a thoroughly effective job in repelling a high energy start from the hosts and instilling a bit of uncertainty into Swindon supporters.

Skipper Danny Cullip set the tone by heading away Gurney's first free-kick into the danger area, Roberts safely held anything which came his way, youthful fullbacks Adam Virgo and Dan Harding came up with vital interceptions and even topscorer Leon Knight got back into his own half to make a crunching tackle on David Duke.

No one in blue and white, however, could get in the way of a close-range drive from Mooney 18 minutes into the second half as he reached a low cross by the recently introduced Grant Smith. Instead it was the crossbar which rescued the Seagulls, with Roberts then tipping over Parkin's follow-up effort.

Home fans were sensing a precious first leg advantage at that stage but those hopes were savagely punctured just nine minutes later by Carpenter's bolt from the blue.

After that, the Seagulls held onto their advantage comfortably, even when Swindon sent on a third striker in Rory Fallon for the last few minutes.

Now, how do they go about keeping their noses in front on what promises to be the most tense evening Withdean Stadium has known in its five years as home of the Seagulls? McGhee is already working on the answer to that one.

• Swindon Town: Evans; Gurney, O'Hanlon, Heywood, Nicholas, Igoe, Hewlett, Duke, Howard, Parkin, Mooney. Subs: Nicholas for Fallon (85), Duke for Smith (54). Unused subs: Griemink, Reeves, Viveash.
• Booking: O'Hanlon 92 mins (foul)
• Albion: Roberts; Virgo, Cullip, Butters, Harding, Reid, Carpenter, Oatway, Jones, Knight, Iwelumo. Subs: Reid for Hart (68). Unused subs: Kuipers, Mayo, Hinshelwood, Piercy.
• Scorer: Carpenter (72)
• Bookings: Knight 42 mins (foul), Harding 60 mins (foul)
• Half-Time: Swindon 0 Albion 0.
• Attendance: 14,034.
• Albion player ratings:
• Ben Roberts 7: Called on to make just one save on 63 minutes when he tipped over a looping header from Sam Parkin.
• Adam Virgo 6: Struggled with the pace of Grant Smith briefly in the second half, but overall looked solid.
• Danny Cullip 9: Albion's man-of-the-match. Cool, calm and collected throughout and snuffed out the attacking threat of Parkin and Tommy Mooney.
• Guy Butters 8: Marked Parkin out of the game and only caught out once in the second half when Mooney hit the bar.
• Dan Harding 6: Nervous early on, but grew in confidence as the game went on.
• Richard Carpenter 7: Never stopped working and deserved the bit of luck which saw his 72nd-minute winner take a deflection.
• Charlie Oatway 7: Struggled with the trickery of Sammy Igoe in the first half, but looked a different player after the break to be one of Albion's top performers.
• Paul Reid 6: Albion's most creative player in the first half, but faded after half time until being replaced by Hart on 68 minutes.
• Nathan Jones 6: Never stopped running and looked one of Albion's biggest threats down the left as Swindon began to tire.
• Leon Knight 6: Worked hard to try and create a chance, but was marked out of the game which left him without a sniff at goal.
• Chris Iwelumo 6: Held the ball up superbly for Carpenter's winner. Had one shot himself in the second half which sailed wide.
• Substitutes - Gary Hart 6: Helped set up Carpenter's goal with a neat pass after replacing Paul Reid on 68 minutes.
• Not used: Kerry Mayo, John Piercy, Adam Hinshelwood, Michel Kuipers.
• Fans' View: MALCOLM BUSS (Brighton) It was a good away performance, we defended really well and 1-0 is a bonus. Cullip and Roberts were probably our best two players. It's still not over but I fancy us to keep another clean sheet in the home leg so I think we're going to Cardiff.

PAUL ARNOLD (Horsham) The tie isn't over yet, but we've got a foot in the Millennium door. We were put under great pressure but hung in there and it was a great day. Cullip played well and Roberts made an amazing save.

DAVID PEARSON (Polegate) It looked like we came for a 0-0 but we did better. We were very lucky to survive when they hit the wooodwork twice - but who cares! I hope we don't think it's all over because it isn't.

LIAM BRIDGE (Swindon fan) I can't believe how lucky Brighton were, having one shot on target in the whole game. Our best chance is that Brighton already think they're through. There's still all to play for and we can beat them down there.