Micky Adams has challenged his new-look Albion side to keep feeding the wide men.

New signing Kevin McLeod is off to a flying start in Seagulls colours with three goals and several promising moments in his game-and-a-half so far.

Dean Cox also got on the scoresheet in Tuesday’s night 4-2 win at Bognor.

Whether those two are on the flanks when Albion chase their first ever win at Crewe on August 9 remains to be seen, though McLeod is surely a certainty for selection barring injury.

Adams reckons McLeod could be one of the best players in League One if he plays with confidence.

As for Cox? The potential is there, as has been seen over the past two seasons.

He could benefit from Adams’ willingness to keep things pretty simple, stick to a traditionally 4-4- 2, ask his wingers to get crosses in and actually start the right footed little creator on the right, albeit with licence to swap wings with McLeod at times.

For a spell last season, it seemed almost every goal Albion scored came from a Cox cross or set-piece.

Yet he only netted twice after his close-range header at Leyton Orient in mid-November.

Adams will surely look for an improvement on that sort of strike rate if Cox is a regular starter.

The Seagulls boss said: “I think if you get a goalscoring winger it’s a real bonus. Wingers should make a contribution in terms of goals.

“Although we rely heavily on our centre forwards for the majority of our goals, what I am looking for is to create goals all round the pitch.

“Kevin is capable of doing that as the fans have seen.”

He has certainly scored goals in the past. Just ask Steve Phillips, the current Bristol Rovers keeper, who was on the wrong end of a hattrick by McLeod when Swansea hammered Bristol City 7-1 in September, 2005.

He did not score again that season, added a modest three goals for Colchester in 2006/07 and last term scored four times, one of them on the opening day and two in the final game.

McLeod took 75 seconds at Worthing and 12 minutes at Bognor to score with terrific left foot strikes from just outside the box.

His second goal at Bognor was a fluke as a free-kick aimed at far post runners evaded everyone and bounced inside the far post.

Surely more significant was what happened a few minutes later, when a ball ran loose just inside the Albion half and McLeod hit it left-footed, first time, in a glorious arc over the back-tracking keeper but inches over the bar.

That’s the self belief Adams was talking about.

The Seagulls boss said: “When you see someone shoot from the halfway line, that’s confidence for you.

“I just want to keep him confident because, if he is, he is as good as anybody. I’m sure he will be as good as anybody in this league.

“I’ve got two wingers who can deliver. They are different types of players in many ways but they are a real threat.

“What we need to do is try and get the ball to them as best we can and as much as we can. If we do, I am sure they will supply, either by scoring goals or making goals.”