MICKY Adams’ future as Albion manager hinges not so much on the result of tomorrow’s trip to fellow strugglers Swindon as the business he does during the January transfer window.

A lot of decisions have to be made, not least because the loan spells of four players are drawing to a close.

Adams needs to inject more character and experience into the team after a third home defeat in a row, the manner of which encapsulated Albion’s current woes at the wrong end of the table.

They did not play badly and they did not deserve to lose but, after starting well and getting their noses in front, they gift-wrapped their opponents a route back into the game and then, for the umpteenth time, conceded another bad goal in the closing stages.

The cruel irony is that Adams needs more characters like Adam Hinshelwood, the culprit for Colchester’s equaliser. He is as determined and as gutsy as they come.

Adams also needs more voices on the pitch. Albion’s goalscorer, Nicky Forster, leads by example in that respect but centre forward is not the ideal position for a captain.

How the boss could do with a few more players of the ilk of Paul Rogers, Charlie Oatway, Richard Carpenter and Danny Cullip, who formed the backbone of his previous success at the club.

Paul Wotton, former long-serving skipper of Plymouth, fits the bill in this respect.

Whether the 31-year-old utility player from Southampton signs in the New Year remains to be seen after training with Albion for a day.

There are probably a few waiverers on the Board wondering whether Adams deserves to be entrusted with funds to put things right, based on his transfer dealings so far second time around.

That is a little harsh because, on paper at least, he has brought in players with a Championship pedigree who should have improved what he inherited.

Most of them have, for a variety of reasons, including injuries and patchy form, not really come off but it is too early into his reign – and still too early in the season – to abandon faith.

It is safe to assume Albion will not be back in the Championship next season but a mid-table finish and trip to Wembley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy will not look so bad come May and that satisfactory combination, even in this bleak period, remains a distinct possibility.

There was little Adams could have done to combat the latest setback. Forster had already hit the upright with a shot when he put Albion ahead with his eighth goal of the season in the 21st minute.

Dean Cox jinked inside on to his right foot to deliver the kind of quality cross which has been all too infrequent from the wide men. Forster met it with a swivelling header into the roof of the net.

The Seagulls were in control and apparently comfortable at the back until Hinshelwood inexplicably presented an ordinary Colchester side with parity ten minutes from the break.

He was under no pressure when he overhit a backpass beyond the scurrying John Sullivan into his own net.

It was hard to believe and a nightmare anniversary for the injury-plagued Hinshelwood, precisely two years after his last home appearance.

Albion had chances to regain the advantage after the break. Colchester keeper Jimmy Walker was forced into saves from Bradley Johnson and Glenn Murray, who looked a little off-colour on his return to the starting line-up from ankle trouble.

Murray also headed wastefully high and wide from a Matt Richards cross and, as the opportunities came and went, there was a growing sense of foreboding.

Clive Platt was too high with an easier header for Colchester, while a surprised Sullivan had to beat away skywards a ferocious effort from long range by David Perkins.

The relegated visitors, who would be up near the top if results at their new stadium were anywhere near as good as their form on the road, looked the more threatening in the final quarter of the contest but the winning goal was another which will make X-rated viewing for Adams and his staff on the video.

It originated from an unwise throw by Sullivan, which put Richards under pressure deep inside his own half.

Albion still had the chance to deal with the danger after that but, following an unconvincing attempt to clear by Hinshelwood, substitute Scott Vernon latched on to a pass from Kemal Izzet to leave Adams’ players crestfallen once more.

At Tranmere last Saturday they were beaten by a goal three minutes into injury time, now a fatal blow with three minutes left of normal time.

Right-back Andrew Whing said: “I’m just in disbelief. That is the second game on the trot and we were absolutely gutted in the dressing room.

“They are a great bunch of lads and we will stick together through this. I know we haven’t got the results we have needed but we have definitely deserved more than we’ve got from the last three performances.”

That is fighting talk from Albion’s Brummie defender but it was accompanied by an ominous warning.

Whing said: “I remember a couple of years ago listening to the radio when the Birmingham chairman, I think in October, said we are too good to go down, we have got enough quality, and they ended up being relegated.

“The table doesn’t lie and we have got to scrap and scrap until we claw our way out of it. We are good enough to stay up but not too good to go down.”

Albion (4-4-2): Sullivan; Whing, Elphick, Hinshelwood, Richards; Fraser, El-Abd, Johnson, Cox; Murray, Forster. Subs: Fleetwood for Forster (withdrawn, 82), McLeod for Fraser (withdrawn, 82), Thornton for Cox (withdrawn, 84), Loft, Crichton.

Scorer: Forster (21).

Yellow cards: Cox (11) foul, Fraser (71) foul.

Colchester (4-5-1): Walker; Maybury, Coyne, Baldwin, Tierney; Perkins, Izzet, Hammond, Jackson, Yeates; Platt.

Subs: Gillespie for Jackson (injured, 72), Vernon for Platt (withdrawn, 79), White for Perkins (withdrawn, 79), Gerken, Reid.

Scorers: Hinshelwood (35) own goal, Vernon (87).

Yellow Card: Baldwin (66) foul.