Vidosic 'back in dugout' for Brighton

Brighton manager Dario Vidosic will be "back in the dugout" for Sunday's FA Cup fifth-round tie at West Ham (12:00 GMT), assistant head coach Chris Roberts has confirmed.

The 38-year-old has been away from the team in Australia for the past month after the passing of father Rado Vidosic, who was also Brighton's women's and girls' head of coaching.

In his absence, Roberts has overseen two wins and two defeats in all competitions and on Friday he revealed the head coach was returning to duty.

"He will be with us for the rest of the week and back in the dugout on Sunday," Roberts told the media. "It is great to have him back and the girls will get a huge boost.

"Even though he has not been here in person, he has been involved and present in everything we do. He has never taken his eye off what's going on."

Roberts explained how the period of leave had worked with Vidosic on the other side of the world, insisting that the status quo remained the same at Brighton.

"The main thing was consistency," he said. "Dario, I and all the staff are a really close-knit bunch so nothing needed to change.

"It has been an emotionally challenging time because we lost someone very dear to all of our hearts in Rado - a member of staff, a mentor, a friend and of course Dario's father.

"But our preparations didn't change, our standards or the way we want to play. Huge credit to the players who have been so professional and it has been my privilege to lead them."

Brighton could be further boosted by the return of striker Fran Kirby from injury for the first time since the start of the year.