ALBION assistant Nathan Jones has revealed the surprise extra man responsible for aiding their biggest home win since November – groundsman Steve Winterburn.

Substitute Jake Forster-Caskey rounded off the 3-0 win over Charlton on a pitch at the Amex prepared to suit the Seagulls’ desire to zip the ball around against struggling opponents.

Albion thrived on a good surface four days earlier in their resounding 4-1 victory at promoted leaders Leicester. Winterburn and his team were tasked with producing similar conditions.

Jones told The Argus: “We just asked for certain things from the groundsman and he did it. He was outstanding.

“We wanted the grass to be a certain length, a certain amount of zip about the surface. He prepared a pitch we could really play on.

“It was an outstanding pitch at Leicester. We felt we played fluently there and we knew we needed that. We couldn’t have a slow build-up because that’s what has cost us in the past against teams like Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday.”

Jesse Lingard’s early goal, his first at home, and Leo Ulloa’s 15th of the season just before half-time set up Albion’s second home win out of seven, sealed by Forster-Caskey in stoppage time.

Casper Ankergren deputised between the posts for the ill Tomasz Kuszczak but Albion’s regular No.1 should be back for the Good Friday trip to Huddersfield.