Albion's promotion hopefuls have been told they are on a winner as the new Nationwide League season kicks off.

Former skipper Paul Rogers, who led the team to two successive titles, believes the signs look good for the Seagulls as they go into the 2003/04 campaign.

But he admitted the key could be to share the responsibility for goals as Steve Coppell's men bid to make up for the recent departure of top scorer Bobby Zamora.

Rogers was set to lead out his new side Worthing in a friendly with Boreham Wood this afternoon as his old mates tackled Oldham at Boundary Park in their Second Division opener.

The Seagulls were expected to field a new strike partnership of Darius Henderson and Leon Knight.

They go into the campaign buoyed by a good pre-season, culminating in Monday's 3-2 home win over Premiership newcomers Leicester.

Asked about the prospects for his former team, Rogers said: "I think they will do well, especially after watching the Leicester friendly.

"I think there were a lot of positives coming out of that.

"The boy Henderson has come in and will take a lot of weight off Leon up front, although Chris McPhee has done really well in pre-season.

"I think the signs look good. We've got a difficult start but we've got to hit the ground running and get back in the winning habit.

"We've always been solid as a team with a decent goalie and back four and midfield.

"It's just can you get two players to score 15 goals instead of Bobby scoring 30 goals?"

"That's what we've got to try and achieve now."

Rogers now has an office job with Albion and will resist the temptation to join in training as he prepares for Worthing's non-League season.

He joked: "I try and keep out of the way. It makes you jealous if you go up the training ground.

"I'm working full-time anyway so it's ideal to play and train with Worthing.

"I'm still in contact with most of the squad and hopefully I'll be invited when they go out socially."

Not that he will be advocating any celebrations if the Seagulls have got a flyer in the north west today.

First day results are a notoriously poor indicator of how the season will go as Rogers knows all too well from the past four seasons.

Twice he helped send Albion hopes sky high, with a 6-0 home romp against Mansfield and a 3-1 success at Burnley, yet each time the early momentum was lost.

By contrast, Albion's back-to-back title campaigns opened in disappointing style, both for the team and their skipper.

Three seasons ago Rogers was hauled off at half-time in a 2-0 reverse at Southend, then a year later he was shown the red card in a 0-0 draw at Cambridge.

He said: "We've had a bit of a mix of results and Oldham is a tough game, but I'm sure the boys will give it their best."

Oldham v Albion: Match reports in Saturday's Sports Argus and The Argus on Monday