A move to the Second Division with Brighton & Hove Albion brought him another 14 goals and the club's Player of the Year award before a knee injury put an end to his professional career after only three seasons.
Maidstone manager John Still was nevertheless surprised that no League club had been prepared to risk such a small sum on a player of potential, albeit one playing at an "fairly low" level.
[7] Butler and Gall contributed 26 goals apiece[8] as Maidstone won the 1989 Conference title, thus earning promotion to the Fourth Division of the Football League.
By the end of the regular season, they had scored 39 League goals between them to help the club to fifth position and a place in the semi-final of the first ever Fourth Division play-offs.
[11] He scored 31 goals for the club from 85 League games[2] before signing for Brighton & Hove Albion for a £45,000 fee in October 1991, as a replacement for John Byrne, who had just transferred to Sunderland for £225,000.