A seething pitch invasion followed the final whistle and a defiant chant

A seething pitch invasion followed the final whistle and a defiant chant of "We Are Staying Up!" rang around the dying stadium. The Brighton fans then proceeded to collect all manner of souvenirs from the ground - pieces of turf, fire extinguishers and wooden seats from the stand were claimed as a great seaside party got under way. Before the game there had been frenzied shopping for memorabilia including a T-shirt printed with the club's most famous results - it was tempting to ask whether they were small size only - not to mention scarves, hats and a commemorative video of the ground.Inside the mood was both festive and vindictive. Most fans seemed determined to give the Goldstone a cheery send-off, but there was a large element which still wants rid of Bill Archer, the man blamed for the sell-off.The midweek announcement that Archer was surrendering his chairmanship and majority shareholding in favour of a new saviour, Dick Knight, had brought hope of a truce in the bitter war between fans, board and those who will profit from the ground's redevelopment this summer. Knight was given a standing ovation as he took his seat in the directors' box.Before the game Doncaster sent out two players with a banner reading "Doncaster Salute Brighton Fans". That was warmly applauded but bought Rovers no sanctuary once the match itself had begun.They were pinned back as the Seagulls swooped in search of salvation. That the Brighton team were pumped up was understandable but when their captain Ian Baird and the Doncaster defender Darren Moore clashed in a challenge which provoked a huge punch up emotions boiled over among players and crowd alike.The rolling brawl was eventually stifled by officials and stewards before the referee sent off both Baird and Moore, but if this was not bad enough, Moore, a tall, black defender, was then bombarded with bananas by sections of the West Terrace in a disgraceful, premeditated racial insult.You were reminded that this weekend marked the first anniversary of a pitch invasion by Brighton fans which forced the abandonment of their match with York City. The suspended sentence of two deducted points was triggered this season by further incursions during anti-Archer protests.Ten minutes into the second half, however, a massive roar of approval rippled around the Goldstone as the news of Leyton Orient's lead over Hereford, the team above Brighton, came through.

But it made the home team more tense, aware that a goal would not only be a fitting finale for the ground, but also a lifesaver for the club.With just over 20 minutes left, the defender Mark Morris planted a header against the bar and Stuart Storer scrambled home a goal that was historic on the day, and may be doubly so by next Saturday evening.. Premiership football next season is going to be more lucrative than ever before but Queen's Park Rangers and Tranmere Rovers will remain on the wrong side of the tracks. Had it not been for Crystal Palace's win yesterday, Rangers would have been modestly rewarded with an albeit tenuous chance of a play-off place, but all of their impressive end-of-season efforts have come to nothing. Nor did Palace's victory over Swindon do anything for Tranmere, who also had mathematical chances of a play-off position. Six wins in eight matches had brought Rangers tantalisingly close to a play-off place, but for them, and Tranmere, that side-door to the Premiership that had kept swinging this way and that is now closed.Rangers must hope that they can stretch their belated good form into a new season. After some early misunderstandings yesterday their calm and well-constructed work across a five-man back line allowed them to press forward purposefully, particularly on the right side, where Andrew Impey's speed and strength cut deep channels. John Spencer and Gavin Peacock might have made more of the pressure and for a time began to regret their inadequate finishing as Tranmere absorbed the waves and instigated a few ripples of their own.John Aldridge froze Rangers when heading a few inches past the post from John McGreal's hopeful long, high ball into the penalty area.

The effect was to place some self-doubt into Rangers who suddenly began to find difficulty in breaking out across the half-way line.The momentum they had built was further slowed when Kenny Irons more or less ran through their entire midfield and defence before Tony Roberts competently held his breathless shot. The game developed into one in which the crowd continually drew breath at chances that came and went and suggested that one person's mistake would sway the outcome.That mistake was perpetrated by the Tranmere goalkeeper, Roberts, who moved off his line in an attempt to grasp a long through-ball from Steve Morrow but perhaps misjudged the increasingly slippery surface. The ball bounced off his chest directly to Daniele Dichio who had no problem in scoring from the rebound and at the same time saying farewell to Rangers before leaving for Sampdoria.After that, much of what Tranmere attempted in their efforts to recover had the jaded look of a team that had been striving long and hard all season and gone beyond their sell-by date. Once committed to sending more players forward, the ones at the back became more unsettled, allowing Rangers to add their second goal.Impey, always Rangers' most influential player on the counter-attack, again moved deep into the Tranmere half and threaded a pass that invited Spencer to run on and beat Eric Nixon at the far post, which he did outstandingly well..

With Swindon on what their player-manager Steve McMahon disarmingly calls the "crest of a slump," Palace's need for three points towards their Grail of a promotion play-off place was more urgent than their hosts' quest to restore some pride in a season that started dribbling into the sand once 1997 arrived. This win could turn Port Vale's visit to Selhurst Park for the last game into a play-off for the play-offs. Swindon's risible scoring rate - three goals in their last nine league games and a failure to hit their own County Ground net since 15 March - made the selection of the goalkeeper Fraser Digby as Player of the Year more or less a certainty. Unfortunately, Digby's lapse seconds before half-time turned the game in Palace's favour. Neither keeper had anything approaching a save to make until Bruce Dyer chased a loose ball to the line and hammered a fierce shot-cum-cross at the near post. Digby let it squirm under his body, and it ran the length of the goalline to Neil Shipperley, who casually stuck it in the Swindon net.Digby made some amends immediately after the restart with an athletic leap to beat out Shipperley's shot and was called upon for further heroics to deny substitute Doug Freedman and Shipperley again in the last 10 minutes. He had no chance in the last minute when Freedman placed his cross at Shipperley's feet for the striker to sweep in his second goal.Swindon had enjoyed something of a renaissance when Alex Smith seemed on the verge of bringing some coherence to their hit-and-miss approach play and this encouraged Jason Drysdale to try his luck with a 20-yarder that whistled inches over Carlo Nash's crossbar. Smith himself missed the target by a greater margin when he tried a quick return of Nash's poor clearance with a 40-yard lob.