MICKY Adams is ready to throw in the kids if his senior stars keep failing to produce the goods.

The Albion boss has seen his side take just two points from a possible 15 ahead of the Boxing Day collision with Barnet.

And he is likely to name at least a couple of youth teamers in the squad to tackle John Still's league leaders.

Adams warned: "What I would say to the senior players is don't feel too comfortable.

"We've got some of these kids coming up and I've shown I'm not afraid to put them in."

Adams has called Scott Ramsay into his starting line-up and put Danny Marney, Shaun Wilkinson and Chris McPhee on the bench in the past fortnight.

He made his intentions clear at Swansea last Saturday when he threw YTS boys Wilkinson and McPhee into the heat of battle while senior professionals Gary Hobson, Dave Cameron and Rod Thomas remained on the bench.

The Seagulls boss revealed: "I didn't really have any hesitation about doing that. We had nothing more to lose.

"It's always daunting for youngsters to be thrown into the heat of the Third Division but they did well.

"I still think it's a little bit early for them. They might be first team regulars in the next three or four years but not at the moment because they're not ready for it

"But we as a football club are great believers in the youth policy and we've worked hard at it."

Albion could hardly have a tougher Christmas programme with matches against Barnet and second-placed Rotherham in prospect.

But Adams insisted: "We're playing the top two. That's great.

"If we get a couple of results against these two then surely that's got to give us confidence."

Barnet boss Still was forced to throw his youngsters in at the deep end last season and believes he is reaping the rewards.

He said: "We're a small club with a small squad.

"Last year we had four or five players missing long term and we brought in kids.

"They've now played 30-40 League games so, although they're young, they're no longer inexperienced and that's helped us."

Albion's reserve team match at Portsmouth last night was called off.

The first team had the day off but are back in training today and tomorrow.

They will also have a workout on Christmas morning before being allowed to spend the rest of the day with their families.

The players will reconvene in the evening and spend the night at a hotel before taking on the leaders in front of another sell-out crowd.

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