Albion midfielder Richard Carpenter has urged his team-mates not to allow one bad result to chisel away at their promotion challenge.

He wants the below-strength Seagulls to put the 4-0 battering at Brentford behind them against his old club Cardiff at Withdean on Thursday.

Carpenter issued his rallying cry as Albion prepare for two crucial home matches in the space of six days.

The showdown with the Welshmen is followed next Tuesday by the visit of Tranmere, another of the promotion hopefuls.

Carpenter said: "It's not something you forget about, losing 4-0 to a team that is up there with you. We'd had two good results previously and we went into the Brentford game looking forward to it.

"It's knocked us back a little bit, but it's how that affects us now. We have got to pick ourselves up, get together and concentrate on Thursday.

"We weren't our normal selves at Brentford and that showed. It was worrying at the time and afterwards, then over the weekend thinking about it, but you cannot dwell on it.

"We have got another big came coming up then another one on Tuesday, so we have got to get something out of them. There is no point throwing all that we have done away over one result."

Carpenter, absolved from blame for the Brentford debacle by boss Peter Taylor, warns that Cardiff will examine Albion's powers of recovery, especially with Simon Morgan, Gary Hart and Paul Watson all suspended.

"This is going to be the test of the strength of the squad," he said. "We have got three key players missing. We have got to live with that and players who have been on the sidelines will get their chance to stake a claim.

"Cardiff have got the spending power and players to do exactly the same as Reading have. They will be slightly disappointed with their position at the moment, but there is still a long way to go and you cannot write them off."

Cardiff's record signing Peter Thorne has a run out in the reserves today after two months out with ankle ligament damage. Striker Robert Earnshaw has a hamstring injury and is rated 50-50.

Cardiff are eight places and eight points behind Albion and boss Alan Cork has described it as a "massive game" for his side. The Seagulls' former No. 2 said: "If we can beat Brighton we won't be far off the play-off positions."

A Thursday night trip to the south coast has not captured the imagination of Cardiff's notorious fans. Yesterday morning more than half of their allocation of 756 tickets were still unsold.

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