Dale Stephens believes his first goal for Albion can act as a springboard for him and the club in their chase for the play-offs.

The January midfield signing from Charlton came off the bench at half-time for dead leg victim Rohan Ince to head a late equaliser in last night’s 3-3 draw at Blackburn, which keeps the Seagulls within three points of the top six.

Stephens, who was not in the squad for Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by Ipswich following illness, told The Argus: “Getting a goal will breed confidence. In previous games I’ve had quite a few chances but not scored so it’s great to get off the mark and hopefully I can kick on from here.

“I carried a foot injury for the last four weeks, so that stopped me a little bit, and then I had a virus last week so it has been kind of stop-start. Hopefully now I have put a marker down that I can score goals for this club.”

Stephens levelled two minutes after Rovers were awarded a controversial penalty when two-goal Jordan Rhodes was sandwiched in-between Matt Upson and Gordon Greer.

“I thought it was a harsh decision,” Stephens said. “It was a bit of a coming together in the box which away from home you are going to get given against you more times than not.

“It looked like it was going away from us but we’ve got good characters in the dressing room. It’s not over until it’s over and we’ve got a good point in the end. We have stopped the rot of the previous three defeats.”

Bruno will be replaced by Inigo Calderon at right-back for the next two games at Barnsley and Leicester after collecting his tenth booking and a two-match ban.