After the 2-0 defeat at Brighton mathematically confirmed Yeovil’s relegation back to League One, manager Gary Johnson was comforted by the fact his side could have done no more.

The Glovers hit the crossbar twice at 0-0 before two late goals from Kazenga LuaLua and Jesse Lingard sealed the win for play-off chasing Albion. But Johnson praised the effort from both the players and fans alike.

“The lads couldn’t have given any more, the supporters couldn’t have given any more and we’ve come up against some really good sides at this level and we have competed.

“I know we’ve said that all year but the lads gave their all and they gave the other teams the chance to see us and see that we’re not dropping out, we’ll give everything we’ve got right until the end of the season. That’s the nature of our group of players and we’ll do that until the last game of the season.

“Our supporters were brilliant as well, they’ve been doing the same so we thank them as well.”

As a sign of the management staff and player’s gratitude for the fans the matchday shirts were thrown into the away crowd at full-time, whilst many of Brighton’s fans stayed to clap Town off the pitch.

The support the squad received left Johnson “emotional” as he suffered his first relegation as a Yeovil manager.

“Sometimes people don’t realise (how the support is appreciated). It’s when you are looking in their eyes and you really see how passionate they are and how supportive they have been. If we could take everything off we would and throw it in there as appreciation but you wouldn’t want to see that from me so that’s why I kept my clothes on!

“It was also fantastic the reception we got from the Brighton fans when we come off; they knew we had given it a right go and probably caused them a lot more problems than a lot of the teams have.

“They knew the boys had given everything and they appreciated it so I had a lump in my throat going to our fans and a lump in my throat going around with their fans clapping us off the pitch, so in a way other than the result it was a great night.”