Albion are reeling from a hat-trick of knockbacks on the final day of the January transfer window.

They failed to pull off deals for THREE main transfer targets to compensate for the departures of captain Dean Hammond to Colchester for £250,000 and striker Nathan Elder to Brentford for £35,000.

Chesterfield turned down a £100,000 bid for their Scottish skipper and midfielder Peter Leven. The League Two club stood firm again after rejecting a £50,000 offer from the Seagulls earlier in the week.

A late move to bring Darren Currie back to Withdean from Luton also ended in disappointment.

The triple whammy was completed by missing out on former Albion schoolboy Dave Martin. The 22-year-old Crystal Palace left winger ended up at League One rivals Millwall instead for £50,000.

Albion now have a central midfield crisis for tomorrow's home game against Crewe, with Paul Reid and Tommy Fraser both ruled out for several weeks. Reid damaged a medial knee ligament in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat at Northampton and Fraser suffered an ankle ligament injury in the reserves at Three Bridges the following night.

It leaves recent signing Steven Thomson from Falkirk as the only established central midfielder for a match Albion dare not lose if they are to avoid being sucked into a relegation battle.

What do you think of Albion's dealings in the transfer window?