Albion are still hunting for a centre half for Saturday's Championship opener at Derby after cooling their interest in Barry Ashby.

The former Gillingham stopper was unable to train yesterday due to a recurrence of ankle trouble following his debut in Saturday's closing friendly victory at Bournemouth.

Manager Mark McGhee is pursuing other avenues in the search for a partner for Guy Butters for the trip to Pride Park.

McGhee said: "Barry Ashby is injured. He had a problem with his ankle at Gillingham last season and it flared up again after the Bournemouth game.

"If he has got a chronic problem that needs sorting then he is no use to us.

"I was thinking he would make a good stop-gap. We've made it public that we want two centre halves and he could easily have been one of them.

"I thought he did all right at Bournemouth."

McGhee aims to have three more players in for the visit to Derby.

"I've got to have a goalkeeper for Saturday and a centre half and we could also have one other to give us a bit of flair," he revealed.

The Seagulls still hope to resolve their goalkeeping crisis by re-signing Alan Blayney from Southampton.

The Northern Irishman's return to Withdean on a permanent deal, put on hold initially due to a dispute over the size of the fee, has been thrown into fresh doubt by continuing uncertainty over the future of Saints' Finnish No. 1 Antti Niemi.

He was a mysterious absentee from Southampton's 3-2 friendly win against Anderlecht at St Mary's on Saturday, so Blayney was on the bench.

McGhee says he will be forced to look elsewhere unless the Blayney saga is resolved today.