Brighton claim their League One title march has been partly motivated by Saints boss Nigel Adkins.

The Seagulls can take another step on their seemingly inevitable pursuit of the trophy when they travel to Dagenham & Redbridge tonight.

They are already 15 points clear of Saints and can extend that to 18 this evening, albeit Saints would have a game in hand.

But Adkins may have inadvertently boosted their cause after a comment he made following the Seagulls’ goalless draw at Saints back in November when the gap between the clubs was just eight points.

When Adkins was asked whether he thought it would be Saints and Brighton fighting it out for the title at the end of the season he started his answer by saying: “Well, if they can keep with us, maybe.”

That was a comment that Brighton took exception to and, according to their midfielder Gary Dicker, have not forgotten.

He said: “Back in November he [Adkins] said to the press we would go up this season if we could keep up with them. I don’t think we have ever been chasing them, but when you hear stuff like that it gives us an extra bit of motivation.

“We are not ones to rant and rave when we win or lose a game, but we are ten points clear so it’s up to the rest to catch us. If we keep playing the way we are playing they are going to struggle to do that.

“We have always played decent football, but teams are making it tougher for us now although we have shown that we’ve got the resilience you need to grind out wins.

“We know we can win matches in different ways now. We show our strength throughout the squad when you look at the subs that we have on the bench.

“There is quality throughout and what is healthy for the team and the club is that everyone is still fighting to play in the team at this point in the season.”

There was a bit of ill feeling after the game at St Mary’s following what was seen as largely negative tactics by Brighton.

However, Saints could have lost it had Kelvin Davis not made a penalty save from Chris Wood.

In his answer Adkins did go on to make a slightly more reasoned case but it appears the Seagulls were not going to be placated.

“For me it’s about staying in the race up until January and from there go on and see if you can win the race and that’s what it’s all about,” added Adkins.

“We’ve been here before, it’s as simple as that. You’ve just got to keep a consistency about yourself to keep picking up points to keep the scorecard moving over and if you can keep the performances right you give yourselves an opportunity to go and do that.”