Albion fans still down in the dumps after the home defeat by Preston should be brimming with optimism on the journey to Leicester this Saturday.

Perverse though it seems, there is far more chance of the Seagulls producing a crisp performance at The Walkers Stadium than if they were travelling to Stoke, Walsall or Derby.

Four of Albion's ten League wins this season have been against sides in the promotion picture: Nottingham Forest, Norwich, Wolves and Reading.

Their record against teams in the top eight is won four, drawn four, lost seven for a tally of 16 points, with four of those defeats by the odd goal.

That compares favourably with a sorry haul of only 12 points in clashes against clubs in the bottom eight. Albion have beaten just three of them, shared the points with three and lost six including doubles for Stoke and Walsall.

This doesn't augur so well for two of the remaining three matches after Leicester, at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Easter Monday and at Grimsby in the final game on Sunday, May 4.

Boss Steve Coppell has a logical explanation for Albion's seemingly illogical form pattern.

"I think most of our success when we have won games has been down to terrific discipline, attacking and defending," he said.

"We have played around that discipline, which is an expression I use quite a lot.

"Sometimes when we play teams more at our level in the table there is an element of relaxing the discipline a little bit and flying a little bit more by the seat of our pants.

"I don't think we are as good if we don't have that discipline.

"The great tendency at this stage of the season is to say 'let's have a go', be more carefree. We get our results when we are ultra-disciplined.

"I could sense it on Saturday against Preston in the crowd. We go behind and it's 'let's transform everything, throw five up front'. That doesn't work for us.

"Even after the first goal on Saturday, which I knew was going to be critical, we still had a great chance. That was because of what we were doing, not because we had thrown everything out of the window."

A disciplined approach has yielded a defensive record worthy of a much higher position in the table.

Albion have let in 62 goals, considerably less than their relegation rivals Stoke (67), Sheffield Wednesday (69) and Grimsby (80).

It is also the same or fewer than Walsall, Bradford, Derby, Burnley and Gillingham.

Inevitably, given the cash constraints Coppell is working under, Albion's defensive improvement has to a certain extent been at the expense of goalscoring.

The total of 42 in 42 games is the next-worst in the division, above only Stoke with 41. Sheffield Wednesday have scored 46, Grimsby 45.

Preston was the Seagulls' 17th blank of the season and long-gone loan signing Steve Sidwell is still joint third in the goal chart with Gary Hart on five, behind Bobby Zamora (11) and Paul Brooker (six).

Coppell said: "In my first two games we leaked nine goals. Another of my sayings is keep on doing what you are doing and you get more of what you've got, so we had to change our formation.

"That makes us less sustained in our attacking play and that is obviously going to be a problem. I think if we had stayed as a 4-4-2 we would have scored more goals, but we would have leaked immensely more.

"We can't have it both ways. I was asked after the game on Saturday did I think Bobby was isolated and that marginally irritated me.

"I've thought that all season. He is isolated, but he is a good player and good players accept that kind of responsibility.

"He has done that and will continue to do that. I would love to have more support around him, but even more support is going to make other areas weaker. That is an equation which doesn't add up at the moment.

"I think Bobby has done tremendously well to get 11 goals. The way we ask him to play puts an awful lot of weight on his shoulders. He's 21 and still learning his trade.

"I would have loved right from day one to put Bobby with somebody like Mark Bright. He was one disciplined player, hard on himself and those around him.

"He taught Ian Wright so much, not in terms of ability but how to be a good, professional footballer.

"Bobby's scored all his goals without really having a strike partner. He's done it by himself, without somebody to give him that worldly-wise experience.

"Sidwell and Brooker have both played the same role, breaking from midfield. It just shows that is really the strike partner of the main striker.

"Those two have scored 11. I always aim for two strikers to get 20 each at the start of the season. We are obviously some way short of that, but there has been no investment in this team for almost three years.

"When you invest you get a return, when you don't invest you get the obvious return. There have got to be serious thoughts during the summer, wherever we are, about which way this club is going."

Saturday's result could have a significant bearing on whether Albion are going back into the Second Division.

A bad omen is that ref Mike Ryan from Preston was in charge on their last visit to the East Midlands, the 3-2 defeat at Nottingham Forest in November.

There is a good omen as well. Albion memorably escaped relegation from the top flight in 1980-81 by winning their last four matches, including an Easter victory over Leicester.

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