London (AFP) – Brighton and Hove Albion all but confirmed their promotion to the Premier League after a 2-1 victory at home to Wigan Athletic on Monday.

The Championship leaders will definitely go up if Huddersfield fail to win against Derby County in Monday’s late kick-off.

But even if Huddersfield beat Derby, it will likely only delay Brighton’s promotion given their vastly superior goal difference over the Yorkshire side.

Glenn Murray opened the scoring for Brighton eight minutes before half-time in front of their own fans at the Amex Stadium.

England Under-21 international Solly March made it 2-0 for Chris Hughton’s men and a goal from Wigan substitute Nick Powell came too late to change the result.

South coast club Brighton are seven points clear of second-placed Newcastle, who suffered a 3-1 loss away to Ipswich on Monday, and 15 in front of Huddersfield — who only have a maximum of 15 available to them from their final five matches.

Only the top two sides at the end of the regular season are guaranteed promotion.

Brighton have spent 34 years outside the top flight of English football since they were relegated from the old First Division in 1983 after a season where they reached the FA Cup final only to lose to Manchester United in a Wembley replay.

Recent seasons have seen Brighton come agonisingly close to going up, with the Seagulls losing play-off semi-finalists in three of the past four campaigns and denied automatic promotion last term on goal difference alone.

Newcastle’s hopes of going straight back up under former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez were dented again as the Magpies’ reverse away to Ipswich meant they have now gone three games without a win.

Freddie Sears put the hosts ahead at Portman Road before former Ipswich man Daryl Murphy equalised.

But instead of a sustained Newcastle fightback, the match witnessed two more Ipswich goals instead, with David McGoldrick and Emyr Huws getting on the scoresheet.

In the race for the play-offs that will ultimately determine which club gains the third and final promotion place, wins for Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham knocked fallen giants Leeds United out of the top six.