Jim McNulty will be a bag of nerves at Withdean on Saturday.

Like most players he is a terrible spectator so the Albion defender will endure rather than enjoy the relegation decider against his old club Stockport.

It will be only the second match watched by the lithe Liverpudlian since losing a kidney after he was accidentally kicked in the home defeat by Crewe in February.

McNulty said: "It is going to be tense and, like every other Brighton fan, I'll be listening to scores from elsewhere as well. It will be nailbiting stuff.

"I've sensed this all along and I'd always kept the last fixture in my mind with it being against my former club.

"I always had a feeling our fate might be settled by that game one way or another."

McNulty went through the mill at home in Bolnore Village, near Burgess Hill, last Saturday as Albion came from behind twice at Huddersfield to preserve a two-point cushion above the relegation zone.

"Basically my living room has become like the Sky Sports news centre," he said. "I've got all the results waiting to come through and I've also got the radio on.

"The telly is on mute and I am listening to the radio in-between phone calls with my dad.

"It's terrible. As a player it is so difficult – you just want to help."

Help is not something McNulty is expecting from his former team-mates at Edgeley Park.

Stockport may have nothing to play for in terms of the table but Jim Gannon's side, flushed with youth, still had the appetite to send Crewe to the brink of League Two in a 4-3 thriller last Friday night.

"I don't think they will be coming just to make the numbers up," McNulty said. "That is the general sense people get at the end of the season. They have got nothing to play for.

"I understand that but they are a very young team. Young players always give 100 per cent and they will maybe be trying to prove a point for next season.

"I don't think they will come with the attitude that they are on the beach already.

"I think they will be a challenge but I think we will get the three points."

McNulty believes Albion's cause has been greatly enhanced by the agreement which allows Stockport's on-loan midfielder, Gary Dicker, to play against them for the Seagulls.

The 22-year-old Irishman has been ever-present since his move at the end of March.

"He is a good player and I was astonished Stockport let him go out on loan," McNulty said. "I am very glad he is on our side and not theirs.

"He is very experienced for a young player. He has played a lot of games and he has a calming influence.

"He can control things and really grab the game by the scruff of the neck and take charge."