Spot of bother

The manner in which they were promoted is threatening to consign them to relegation.

Success in the shoot-out against Swindon at Withdean and Leon Knight's calmness from 12 yards against Bristol City in the final saw the Seagulls through the play-offs last season.

Now their fight for survival is being undermined by a dramatic role reversal.

Eight penalties, the majority controversial, have been scored against Albion this season. They have been awarded three themselves, but Knight has only managed to convert one.

Mark McGhee's side have been in a spot of bother since their first home game of the season against Plymouth at Withdean in August.

Trailing 1-0, they had Dan Harding sent off on the stroke of half-time when a push on Marino Keith inside the area was regarded as a second bookable offence.

Paul Wotton scored from the resulting penalty to clinch Argyle's 2-0 victory.

At the end of September, Knight picked himself up after Chris Hope brought him down inside the box late on to score the only goal from the spot against Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium.

Nobody could have foreseen at that stage how much the issues of penalties would work against Albion over the course of the campaign.

Knight's deadly aim deserted him as he had spot-kicks saved in the 2-0 defeat at Millwall in December and, more significantly, in a goalless home draw against Nottingham Forest in January.

Last season's top scorer also had a penalty claim denied in the home game against Stoke just before Christmas, when he was impeded by Wayne Thomas, and Albion had a hat-trick of strong appeals rejected in the second half of another narrow defeat at Ipswich in November.

The spot-kick scales had already tipped against the Seagulls by then. Harding was the culprit once more at the Stadium of Light at the end of October when he felled Liam Lawrence. The Sunderland winger's successful penalty completed a 2-0 victory for the current Championship leaders.

McGhee had no complaints about that award, but an incredible run of six penalties against his side in the space of five away games left him cursing the judgement and inconsistency of referees.

The sequence began at Ninian Park in mid-February, when Kerry Mayo was penalised for pushing Richard Langley in a 2-0 defeat by fellow strugglers Cardiff.

Three weeks later the Seagulls encountered double trouble at the Britannia Stadium, when Stoke beat them by the same score.

Both goals were penalties in swift succession at the end of the first half, the first for a challenge by Mark McCammon on Michael Duberry, the second against the unfortunate Harding once more for holding from a corner.

McGhee described them as "two really soft penalties" and his mood was hardly improved when Albion conceded another penalty in a 5-1 hammering at Plymouth a week later.

McGhee, together with his players, was convinced Adam Hinshelwood had been pushed by Plymouth striker Nick Chadwick before a handling offence which allowed Wotton to punish the Seagulls from the spot as he had at Withdean seven months earlier.

McGhee reached the end of his tether at Coventry last Saturday when ref Mark Cowburn controversially spotted Guy Butters pulling an opponent from a corner at the start of the second half.

The penalty Phil Prosser awarded against Gary Hart at Preston on Tuesday night was clear-cut, but Hart's accompanying red card for denying Eddie Lewis an obvious goalscoring opportunity looked harsh.

We can only speculate over the extent to which results have been affected by Albion's penalty woes.

It is, however, reasonable to assume they would be better off to some degree and, with the battle to stay up so tight and congested, a couple of points here or there might make all the difference.