Albion Analysis: Hughton's rescue act almost complete

Stage one of Chris Hughton's rescue act is almost complete.

Of course, it's never over until the fat lady sings but she is waiting in the wings ready to bellow: 'League One for Albion? You're 'aving a larf'.

Stage two is turning the Seagulls back into Championship showstoppers but that is for another season.

Hughton is doing exactly the job chairman Tony Bloom wanted from him initially when appointing him on New Year's Eve, namely keeping Albion up. He is also going to achieve it with room to spare.

It is only a matter of time now within the remaining seven games before Albion are mathematically safe following a thoroughly professional first away victory in seven.

So let's not lament the lack of firepower which, technically speaking since the winner was an own goal, has stretched the sequence without an away goal in open play from an Albion player to 12 hours.

Let's rejoice instead in a sixth clean sheet out of nine on the road under Hughton's command.

The stubborn streak has helped lift Albion to the giddy heights of 16th, their loftiest perch since dropping from 13th to 17th with a 3-2 defeat at Brentford in early September.

Leaking goals away from the Amex in such fashion was quite commonplace for Albion under Sami Hyypia. They also conceded three in November at Bournemouth and Norwich and in the rapid capitulation at Derby in December.

They are a much tougher nut to crack on their travels now. They have only once under Hughton let in more than one goal, at Reading earlier this month when he uncharacteristically made sweeping changes.

Reverting to type has produced successive clean sheets at Millwall and Blackburn and a return to the kind of resilience required when you are in, or dare I say now have been in, a relegation fight.

Hughton is getting the best out of what he has, which is all you can ask. To become more expansive, creative and threatening to opponents in the final third he needs a healthy injection of extra quality in the summer recess.

He is doing pretty well in that respect back at base. The last home game against Wolves was the only one in the last seven in which Albion have failed to score at least twice.

His former club Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford will know they are in for a severe examination in attempting to enhance their promotion aspirations when they visit next month after the international break.

Being in better shape than at any time in the last six months is not a bad way to enter the interruption.

Wolves were the last side to prevent Blackburn scoring at Ewood Park, back on January 11.

A big factor in Albion's shut-out was Hughton's shrewd decision to recall Rohan Ince, or should it be Roman Ince?

There was something gladiatorial about the way in which Ince powerfully shielded the back four from Blackburn's direct approach.

It was a challenge made for Ince's physical strength. There is plenty of room, and time, for improvement in his distribution but his defensive attributes as a former centre-half in the development squad were perfect for the occasion on another dodgy pitch.

Serious defending was not needed too much in the first half. Blackburn's 13th game in 43 days looked like one game too many after their midweek defeat at home to Brentford, which effectively killed off their hopes of a late charge for the play-offs.

Albion were the better, more cohesive side. Hughton's revised front three comprising Emmanuel Ledesma, Chris O'Grady and Joao Teixeira all contributed to a counter-attacking threat when Rovers lost possession, as they did cheaply and frequently in the opening 45 minutes.

Behind them, the mobile and technically proficient combination of Beram Kayal and Dale Stephens gave the midfield a dictating feel.

O'Grady, via the dexterity of Teixeira's touch, clipped the outside of a post from 20 yards.

It was no real surprise when Albion scored, although the manner of it was, Rovers captain and centre-half Matt Kilgallon heading a right-wing cross from O'Grady into his own net.

Scares at the other end were restricted to a disallowed Jordan Rhodes header for impeding David Stockdale as they jumped together and a parry by the keeper when Ben Marshall cut inside to shoot from 20 yards.

A response of sorts was inevitable from a Rovers team equipped to dump Swansea and Stoke out of the FA Cup on home soil and seeking a hat-trick of Premier League scalps in next month's quarter-final replay against Liverpool.

It came once manager Gary Bowyer introduced the rested Rudy Gestede as part of a double change to accompany fellow 16-goal marksman Rhodes.

Rovers had 6ft 4ins Rudy, Albion had the equally vertical Greg Halford to help repel the danger from crosses, free-kicks and long throws from Blackburn's other substitute Tommy Spurr.

Although they were pushed back and O'Grady, manfully leading the line, became increasingly isolated, the menace was dealt with so efficiently by Ince, Halford and company that an equaliser almost arrived only once when Stockdale somehow kept out a header from Rhodes, it transpired subsequently with his nose.

That was appropriate really, so rare were sniffs of goal for Rovers.

Hughton said: "I thought we were excellent. They are a good side. They threaten you up front, playing with two wide and getting as many balls into the box as they can, so your game management has got to be very good and your discipline has got to be even better. I thought we coped with it very, very well.

"We broke well. Perhaps on a different surface we'd have had a little bit more joy but I thought it was a victory we deserved."

It was the seventh in 17 matches overall under Hughton, a huge improvement on the one in 18 in the league in the latter stages of Hyypia's abbreviated reign with more or less the same group of players.

The curtain has more or less closed on those relegation worries. The whole cast has played a part but Hughton has been in the leading role.