The alarm bells were ringing for Albion at the training ground yesterday.

Assistant manager Dean White, appropriately in the circumstances, conducted interviews to the background sound of a fire alert.

Tommy Fraser was only nine-years-old when the Seagulls last visited Hereford for that unforgettable relegation decider.

Tonight’s clash at Edgar Street does not quite carry the significance of that May afternoon when Kerry Mayo put through his own net, only to be rescued by Robbie Reinelt, but Fraser senses a similar do-or-die scenario.

“I was talking about it the other day with Kez,” said the flame-haired midfielder. “It’s a similar sort of thing and they might be looking to get one over on us for last time.

“It feels like the last game of the season already. It feels like literally if you don’t win this one it’s over.

“It’s obviously not over because we could still then save ourselves in the next six games but for confidence purposes we have got to win this game.

“They are below us and we are capable at times of beating anyone in this league, especially teams in and around us.

“It will be a bit of a nitty-gritty game but, as long as we come away with the points, I don’t think any Brighton fan will care.”

Twelve years ago players and fans were united in the quest for salvation. That was not the case at MK Dons on Saturday, where the patience of some of the travelling army ran dry.

Brighton-born Fraser appreciates their frustration but the 21-year-old youth team product has appealed for unity once more as he creeps towards a century of appearances for the Seagulls.

“We are a big club and we cannot be in the position we are,” he admitted. “They (the fans) don’t deserve it but the plea is for them to stay with us, stay with the players.

“They might have turned on a few on Saturday and you can’t blame them really. If that is their opinion then fair enough but if we start turning on each other then it is all going to go to pot.

“If we can all stay together as a team and a unit, including the fans and everyone involved in the club, then the better it will be.

“It is going to help matters, rather than arguing, but you can understand their frustration at times and they have followed us through and through.

“If they can just stay with us, especially for the next couple of games, then we will see where we are after that.”

The table, as White pointed out, will look very different on Saturday night if Albion beat Hereford and follow up with another victory against Swindon at Withdean.

That, as Fraser acknowledged, is a very big if.

He said: “Everyone keeps on saying we have two games in hand but those mean nothing when you are not picking up points.

“We have got to step up to the plate now. Nothing less than six points is good enough from the next two games.

“It’s massive tonight, FA Cup final time. We have got to win, get some confidence and progress from there.

“If we lose tonight then Hereford are gaining three points on us as well, so it is a six-pointer if you like and Saturday against Swindon will be the same sort of thing. We cannot afford to give teams around us cheap points.”