Martin Hinshelwood is delighted Albion are to reward four of his proteges with new contracts.

Ben Andrews, Danny Davis, Scott Ramsay and Will Packham are all products of the Seagulls youth system. Hinshelwood, the director of youth, said: "I'm very pleased for the boys. It's a great fillip. They've got to keep on working hard and still have a long way to go but they've done well."

This year's successful Albion youth team have also caught the eye of manager Micky Adams. Chris McPhee and Shaun Wilkinson have played for the first team, Daniel Marney has been a non-playing substitute, while Dean Hammond has also featured in a squad.

Many of the youth team, who won the Youth Alliance premier (south east) title, have been given run outs in the reserves. Hinshelwood has sympathy with the youth team graduates like Mark Ormerod, John Westcott and Paul Armstrong who have been given free transfers this week. He said: "It's not a nice time for anybody when these decisions are made."

Albion will run a residential course at Ardingly College in August.