Matt Richards believes Albion are good enough to be among the promotion contenders and he has not given up hope of them proving it.

The on-loan Ipswich left-back's second loan spell of the season is not going as well results wise so far as his first.

The Seagulls were beaten only three times in 19 games when Richards was borrowed between September and December. Since his return during the January transfer window for the rest of the campaign, a much-changed side has already lost twice in four matches, the latest at Cheltenham on Saturday.

Richards said: "No disrespect to Cheltenham but we should be beating teams like that. We should be higher up the League. Hopefully we are going to put it right soon."

The unaccustomed taste of defeat in an Albion shirt has done nothing to dampen Richards' enthusiasm over a move which has rescued him from a diet of reserve team action at Portman Road. He is relishing his second stint on the South Coast in the same way as he did the first.

The former England under-21 international said: "I am enjoying it just as much. I have settled in a lot more. I'm really happy playing football here at the moment every week.

"It's a little bit different. We've had a different run of games, a lot of tough games.

"We have got five at home now and none of them are going to be easy but I think we will turn our fortunes around.

"Everyone is determined to do that and the team spirit here and the ability we have got is definitely up there with the best in the League. We have just got to go out there and show it."

The starting point is Tranmere's visit tonight, which launches an unprecedented sequence of games at Withdean.

Cheltenham, Oldham, Leyton Orient and Gillingham all follow before Albion hit the road again at Carlisle on March 8 and Richards is setting his sights on a maximum return to lift the Seagulls right back into the play-off picture.

He said: "It's quite strange but we have got to take advantage of it, get the crowd behind us and come away with as may points as possible.

"Everyone is convinced we can win every one. That has got to be our aim."

Albion need quick compensation for Saturday's shocking turnaround at Cheltenham, where they led 1-0 in injury time only to concede twice.

Richards said: "It was very disappointing to lose in that manner. The game should have been dead and buried. We have got to forget about that now and look forward."

That might be easier said than done for another member of Albion's back four. While most of the players have never experienced anything quite like it, painful memories were resurrected for Guy Butters.

The veteran centre half was part of the Gillingham team which led Manchester City 2-0 at the old Wembley with a minute to go in the Division Two play-off final nine years ago. City forced extra-time and went on to win a penalty shoot-out.

"I'm a bit of a jinx really," Butters said ruefully. "You cannot put your finger on it. It just happened so quickly from two balls straight down the middle, which was very disappointing from our point of view.

"We thought we had it in the bag and maybe we were bit complacent but that shouldn't really happen.. "It plays on your mind but we have got to put that to one side. There is not much we can do about it now, that's gone. We have analysed what went wrong and will try and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Especially not after losing 2-0 to Tranmere at Prenton Park earlier in the season to goals in the last 12 minutes.

Butters said: "We've had some scraps against them and come off worst in the last couple of years, especially away from home.

"We need to bounce back straight away from that disappointing result on Saturday.

"It's getting a bit tight. Teams down at the bottom are not that far behind us but we have got games in hand and if we get maximum points from those we will not be far from the play-offs."

Is Richards right and should Albion be higher in the league?