If Albion need an injection of belief that they can cause a cup shock against Manchester City, they just have to look and listen to their goal scoring talisman.

The odds against the Seagulls at Wembley are not as long as they were when Glenn Murray was leading the attack at Withdean 11 years ago.

City were literally leagues apart then, just enriched and playing a third tier club.

Albion beat them on penalties. Murray scored one of the spot-kicks after forcing extra-time with a late equaliser.

"City had just come into a lot of money," he said. "They signed big money players. Jo was £18 million, which at the time was a huge fee.

"They had a really good team out that night and were meant to win.

"I don't think they fancied the Withdean too much and we managed to get them to penalties and beat them.

The Argus:

"Kasper Schmeichel was in goal. It was a good City team. Good memories and it would be nice to repeat that.

"Even though City are arguably the best team in the country at the moment, I think that probably we overcame bigger odds that night than they are this weekend.

"I know we are much closer to them as a club now than we were ten years ago."

The road to Wembley has been a long and winding one for Murray.

The semi-final against City will be his 550th appearance in the top five divisions of English football spread over 15 years.

The journey began with Carlisle, Stockport and Rochdale, gathered pace in his first spell with Albion, continued on the up with Crystal Palace, Reading on loan and Bournemouth, and has stayed that way in his second stint with the Seagulls.

He fired them to promotion, was their leading marksman in the Premier League last season and will be again.

Last month, he became only the second player in Albion's history to reach 100 league goals when he pounced against Palace at Selhurst Park (1920s legend Tommy Cook is the other).

The Argus: Few would begrudge Murray, 35, his first proper outing at the National Stadium, particularly after a serious knee injury sustained against Albion in the Championship play-off semi-finals six years ago deprived him of the privilege.

"I have (played at Wembley), but I don't really count it," Murray told The Argus. "I came on against Spurs (last season).

"If people ask me have you played at Wembley I would say not. I missed the play-off final and I got to the LDV final for Carlisle when Wembley was being done out and it was a sabbatical at Cardiff.

"I am looking forward to Saturday and what it holds. It means the world when you think this club has not been this far for 35 years. That just speaks volumes.

"It's a massive day for the club, a huge day for the fans, and it could be a day that people remember for years to come. Like I've heard stories about 35 years ago.

"It's a day we're looking forward to, but we've got to keep a lid on our emotions. We've got a job to do and try to take that next step by beating City and getting to the final."

That would ruin City's tilt at a ground-breaking quadruple ahead of the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Spurs.

Murray said: "It's still early days for a quadruple, people keep talking about it but there's a long way to go, a lot of football to be played.

The Argus: "Man City are fighting on four fronts so we'll have to see what kind of team they put out. They have a huge game in the Champions League straight after.

"We want to get to an FA Cup Final, we don’t want to stop City's quadruple. That's not the aim or the focus and it hasn't even been mentioned.

"It's about us getting ourselves to a final. And we'll be trying our very best to do that."

The chances of the Wembley prize for Murray and Albion looked remote when they trailed 2-0 at Millwall with just a few minutes remaining.

City's recovery in the quarter-finals from 2-0 down at Swansea the night before was less of a surprise.

It feels like a free hit for Murray and his team-mates, but he said: "You put pressure on yourselves because you want to win games. I suppose it's sometimes easier to be underdogs, as we found at Millwall.

"We managed to get through but it was a difficult afternoon.

"Everyone will be a Brighton fan apart from city fans. I think we'll have 95 per cent of the nation supporting us and willing us on, probably including Wolves and Watford!

"So it feels good. It's a game of football, 90 minutes. We look at the previous round when Swansea were 2-0 up. We were in the hotel preparing for our game and we to say the least were shocked by that scoreline. So we know it's do-able and we are going to go out there and give it everything."