Albion 1, Fulham 2

Sami Hyypia has to solve a flaw which has contributed hugely to his Albion side's descent into the Championship relegation zone.

Darren Bent noticed on his goalscoring debut the lead-relinquishing weakness responsible for a big chunk of the Seagulls' 14 winless games in the last 15.

They get themselves into a position to kick on and claim three points but rapidly give it away.

There is a well-worn theory that a team is at their most vulnerable when they have just scored. You can say that again about Hyypia's flakey Albion.

The warning signs were there when they first surrendered an advantage, twice, back in August before sneaking past League One Swindon after-extra-time in the Capital One Cup. In the Championship the pattern has become horribly familiar.

Take the last ten games. A 1-0 lead at home to Cardiff lasted a minute, at home to Rotherham three minutes and against Blackburn at the Amex nine minutes.

At Norwich they were 1-0 up for five minutes, 3-2 ahead for eight minutes. They are getting better. Bent's almost inevitable strike against his previous loan club - the fifth time he has scored on debut for the seven teams he has served - was retained for a whole ten minutes. Wow.

Converting three of these five winning positions would have seen Albion where Reading are now, in the relative comfort of 14th, instead of 22nd, which will probably become 23rd if they lose at leaders Derby on Saturday.

Bent observed: "It was quite weird, because until we scored our goal we were in control of the game, passing it well. We got the goal and after we scored seemed to step off it. We need to address that.

"We seemed to stop doing the things that got us into the lead, because up to that point we were passing the ball, creating chances and Fulham didn't really create too much, couldn't get near us, especially in midfield. For what ever reason we stepped off it and paid the penalty."

The acceleration of the lead-relinquishing habit in recent weeks, as the winless sequence has stretched and Albion have slipped further and further down the table, is no coincidence.

Hyypia said: "We still have things to learn when we go ahead. You need to be mentally strong, do the things we did before we scored. Maybe we need to wait until the last minute to score, so the opposition don't have any time to come back!

"I'm thinking 24-seven what kind of things we need to change or do in training to change this situation but at this moment it's more of a mental thing than skill thing.

"If you are not able to match the urgency of the opposition when they fall behind then you are in trouble.

"If you think 'We'll keep the lead and go a bit deeper', no, you keep on going how the game plan was. You have to be more urgent, tougher in the challenges, a little bit quicker. I think that's a mental thing. It's about concentration as well."

The big worry is if this Albion squad lacks the mentality to see out games when three points are in sight, are they made of the right stuff to drag themselves out of the bottom three?

Hyypia has plenty of nice footballers like Liverpool talent Joao Teixeira, the unfortunate victim against Fulham of the rule allowing only five loans in the matchday squad, but are there enough scrappers for a relegation dogfight?

Hyypia, when he engineered the Portugese prospect's move from Anfield, would not have envisaged burdening his development in a survival culture.

Bent's surprise arrival from Aston Villa, combined with the extension of Elliott Bennett's loan from Norwich, provides much-needed extra quality in the final third and hope that results will improve in a critical five-game December before Albion's plight is re-assessed in the January transfer window.

Bent could have scored a hat-trick and probably would have if his match sharpness had not been dulled by a diet of fleeting substitute appearances for Villa.

Twice in the first half Fulham's England under-21 goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli foiled him, fortuitously with an outstretched leg from a close range header and then expertly when Bent was put through the middle by Adrian Colunga.

You do not give a cold-eyed marksman like Bent three sniffs. Another through ball from Colunga was despatched through the legs of Bettinelli to give Albion a 52nd minute lead they merited at that stage.

Bent tired and became less of a threat as the game wore on but he will benefit from only his second 90 minutes of the season, as will Albion from his penalty area instincts and aerial aplomb.

Fulham have a pretty useful striker of their own, two in fact if you include the so-far disappointing former Leeds hotshot Ross McCormack. Hugo Rodallega was wasteful with an early second half chance from seven yards when McCormack set him up but the Colombian made no mistake after Lasse Vigen Christensen got away from Joe Bennett and Rohan Ince to provide him.

Rodallega swept Fulham back to parity with a ruthless finish into the roof of the net and Albion were punished again, cruelly this time, 15 minutes later Dane Christensen diverting past the wrong-footed David Stockdale a tame shot by inventive World Cup Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz which was going well wide.

Hyypia did not hide behind Fulham's flukey winner to excuse the turning of yet another draw into a damaging third home defeat.

He said: "You sometimes score that kind of goal, sometimes you concede that type of goal. That's part of the game. You can't say that was the reason we lost, that we had bad luck.

"When we went ahead what we did after that lost us the game, not this kind of goal and luck."

Albion will be without Colunga at Derby after the Spaniard ruined glimpses of an understanding with Bent and flashes of La Liga quality with a daft red card in the closing stages, the first of his 117-game career.

A yellow for taking a free-kick too quickly was unfortunate, a second soon after for catching Scott Parker with a sliding tackle close to the corner flag in Fulham territory was stupid.

Hyypia said: "I think if you are on a yellow you are a bit silly to slide and kick him in the leg."

Colunga's first offence encapsulated a succession of dire free-kicks in dangerous positions from Albion. The last of them, struck high and wide by substitute Solly March on his comeback from injury, prompted boos and there were more boos at the final whistle.

Hyypia said: "It's not a nice position to be in and I think the fans have a right to be unhappy with the situation. What we can only do is concentrate on what we are doing and try to make everything better."

It will not get any better any time soon unless Albion stop hastily losing leads and start showing they have the state of mind for a relegation battle.