Albion blew a chance to close in on League One safety, and potentially lost a lot of momentum in the process, as they crashed to defeat in the West Midlands last night.

The Seagulls were sunk by three first- half goals, all with their origin down their own left flank, as they fell to the most comprehensive defeat of Russell Slade’s still young tenure as manager.

Alex Nicholls was man of the match down the right wing for Walsall, who comfortably saw their way to a first win in five games as Albion failed to threaten any sort of second-half revival.

It was a spectacular turn around of fortunes for both sides after Saturday’s results, which saw Slade’s men thump Yeovil 5-0 at Withdean and Walsall crashed by the same score at home to Bristol Rovers.

Albion remain three points adrift of Yeovil and Northampton, neither of whom played last night, and also now Swindon after the Robins’ impressive 3-0 win over Southend.

Slade now faces a major task to get his side back on course for what looks a very tough trip to high-flying Scunthorpe on Saturday.

Predictably enough, Albion stuck with the starting line-up which hammered Yeovil 5-0 on Saturday. There was a return on the bench for Gary Borrowdale after a knee injury, the on-loan left-back taking the place of Glenn Murray, who is being nursed gently through his return from hernia surgery.

More surprising was the fall-out, or rather lack of it, from Walsall’s 5-0 home defeat by Bristol Rovers three days previously.

Boss Chris Hutchings, the former Albion defender, made just one change and even that was enforced as Welsh Under-21 international Mark Bradley replaced the injured Stephen Hughes in midfield.

Walsall certainly made a bright start and a slip by Adam El-Abd let in Troy Deeney inside 20 seconds, only for the in-form striker to fire his shot into the away fans behind that goal.

Al Bangura created a hint of a chance for himself on ten minutes as he went on his own from midfield with the Walsall defence pushing up for offside. Clayton Ince, however, was quick out of his area and kicked clear.

Much of the early Walsall danger came via Nicholls down their right so it was no surprise that he should be at the origin of their 14th-minute opener.

Nicholls cut inside Dave Livermore and pulled the ball back precisely for Bradley to drive home.

The Saddlers were worthy of their lead although initially they did not really push home their advantage.

Neither, however, did Albion offer too much danger although Nicky Forster had an optimistic long-range drive blocked after some neat build-up between Bangura and Jason Jarrett in midfield.

Still, the Seagulls looked pretty comfortable at the back until they were undone by a sucker punch of a second goal on 30 minutes which again had its origin on the left of their defence.

This time Livermore saw his intended pass down the line blocked by Nicholls who raced away and crossed for Deeney to guide his shot across Mikkel Andersen and inside the far post.

With Borrowdale available again, Slade has clearly had a decision to make at left-back. It was easy to see why he stuck with an unchanged line-up but just as evident was that the hosts were getting the ball out to Nicholls on their right touchline as often as possible.

The third goal resulted indirectly from that area of the pitch as Albion conceded a corner which was eventually sent deep, Smith headed the ball back for Bradley whose shot hit the bar and Anthony Gerrard headed in from close range.

That rounded off a miserable half for the Seagulls who offered just a Forster header which went wide from Seb Carole’s cross by way of response.

Slade clearly had to change things defensively at half time and he made two substitutions with Borrowdale and Tommy Elphick replacing Livermore and El-Abd respectively.

But Walsall continued to attack and Jabo Ibehre thumped a drive at Andersen and saw a header deflect off target and Sofiene Zaboub had a free-kick held by the keeper as Walsall continued to make most of the running.

The Seagulls at least managed to win a trio of corners, one of which saw Elphick have a header nodded behind by Gerrard.

The home skipper limped off soon after and was replaced by Chris Palmer in a defensive reshuffle which saw Rhys Weston, one of the two players sent off in Walsall’s 1-0 win at Withdean this season, switched from right to centre back.

At the other end, Nicholls was still a threat, seeing two shots in quick succession around the 70-minute mark deflect narrowly off target, firstly off Matt Heath and then Forster.

Slade sent on Craig Davies as an extra striker, going 4-3-3 with Dean Cox looking to get forward in support of the front men. They at last extended the home keeper seven minutes from time with their first on-target effort of the game after Forster had made a nuisance of himself. The chance eventually fell to Cox on the left edge of the box but this time the five-star hero from Saturday saw his effort saved by Ince diving to his left.

Albion (4-4-2): Andersen; Whing, Heath, El-Abd, Livermore; Carole, Jarrett, Bangura, Cox; Forster, Owusu. Subs: Elphick for El-Abd (withdrawn, 46), Borrowdale for Livermore (withdrawn, 46), Davies for Carole (withdrawn, 68), McCloud, Fraser.

Yellow cards: Heath (54) foul, Borrowdale (55) foul.

Walsall: (4-4-2): Ince: Weston, Smith, Gerrard, Boertien; Nicholls, Bradley, Mattis, Zaaboub; Deeney, Ibehre.

Subs: Palmer for Gerrard (injured, 65), Shroot for Zaaboub (withdrawn, 76), Taundry for Ibehre (withdrawn, 86), Gilmartin, Sansara.

Scorers: Bradley (14), Deeney (30), Gerrard (38).

Can Albion get out of this relegation mess?