27 brilliant fan pictures as Grimsby Town and Harry the Haddock invade Brighton

Brighton have been flying high in the Premier League and are seventh in the table and are in the mix for European qualification. They have been playing some excellent football under their head coach Roberto De Zerbi and were favourites to beat visiting Grimsby Town and advance to a Wembley quarter-final. Paul Hurst’s Grimsby however are far from pushovers and have advanced to this stage of the competition thanks to wins against higher ranked opposition in each round. Town have beaten five clubs above them in the pyramid – Plymouth, Cambridge, Burton, Luton and Southampton – to land a plum tie with the high-flying Seagulls. The Grimsby fans came to the south coast in great numbers and brought with them thousands of inflatable haddocks that have become their trademark during this remarkable cup run of theirs. Both sets of fans were in fine voice ahead of the kick-off with a number of inflatable seagulls spotted to combat the haddocks. Here are some cracking images of Grimsby and Brighton fans ahead of kick-off at the Amex Stadium