Ninety minutes of intense personal abuse at Elland Road on Saturday? Robbie Savage cannot wait. “I’m sure I’ll get a lot of stick there,” he said. “But I’m delighted. If I’d stayed at Derby, I would have been sitting at home with the missus and the kids.”

The former Wales midfield player has faced Leeds United in plenty of top-flight matches, but Saturday’s will be his first League One encounter there, having been offered a month’s loan by Micky Adams, the Brighton manager, after losing his place at Derby County. Although he has not played in the third tier since May 1997, he chose to play at the modest Withdean Stadium rather than sit in the stands at Pride Park picking up his pay cheque.

“Friends said I was mad going to Brighton, but I’m a proud man and I want to play,” he said after his debut on Saturday. “I’ve heard a lot about the stadium, but when you’re out on the pitch it’s not as bad as it looks. I played with a smile on my face for the first time for a long time.

“I hope I can do well for Brighton, get them up the league and go back and get in Derby’s team. I’ve still got the ambition. The lads said after the game ‘Derby must be a good team for you not to get in it’, which pleased me.”

He also impressed the Brighton supporters, who cheered him off when he was substituted in stoppage time, two minutes before Cheltenham snatched an equaliser, Andy Gallinagh becoming the first player not named Murray to score after a hat-trick by Brighton’s Glenn and two by Scott for the visiting team. “I got a bit of cramp because it was my first 90 minutes since preseason,” Savage said. “Then they scored in the 92nd, which was disappointing.

“I was going to go out in Brighton and be a big hero because we’d won, but I’ll keep a low profile now.”

A low profile is not his usual style, as Martin Allen, the Cheltenham manager, agreed, describing him as “certainly not Magnolia, he’s a bright colour”. Savage, though, is unapologetic about his flashy image. “I’ve got a nice car because I’ve earned it,” he said. “I could have been sitting at home now watching the results come in, but I want to play and I’m prepared to roll my sleeves up.”

Brighton & Hove Albion (4-3-1-2): M Kuipers – A Whing, T Elphick, C Hawkins, M Richards – A Virgo, R Savage (sub: T Fraser, 90min), D Livermore – K Thornton (sub: A El-Abd, 74) – N Forster, G Murray. Subsitutes not used: D Cox, D Loft, J Anyinsah. Booked: Elphick, Thornton, Savage.

Cheltenham Town (4-4-2): S Brown – D Kenton (sub: A Vincent, 69), M Townsend, D Diallo, A Wright – S Murray (sub: A Gallinagh, 77), J Wesolowski, A Russell, J Payne – L Owusu (sub: P Connor, 84), S Fleetwood. Substitutes not used: J Perry, G Caines. Booked: Russell, Payne. Sent off: Payne.

Referee: G Ward. Attendance: 5,859.