Sam Baldock has labelled as “strange” the way Albion have used him since becoming their big summer signing.

The Seagulls made six bids for Baldock before finally landing their man from Bristol City for around £1.5 million.

Last season’s top scorer in League One with 24 goals is used to playing as a centre-forward with a partner but Albion have played for several seasons with one central striker and Baldock has been deployed in a different way, both by ex-boss Sami Hyypia and his successor Chris Hughton.

Baldock told The Argus: “It was slightly strange that I was signed having been on the back of playing two up front for the previous few years, or as many years as people would have been watching, to then come and either play up front on my own, not very often, or in a supporting role.

“It’s not something that I’ve done too much before and it’s not where I scored my goals, so it’s not the sort of role I got signed for really.

“So it is strange but I’ve had to adapt and try to make the most of it for the team’s sake.”

Three-goal Baldock has operated on the left under Hughton, a role he is expected to retain against Leeds United at the Amex tonight.

He said: “I didn’t anticipate myself playing out wide. I knew Brighton predominantly play three in midfield and then three up top but it was a case of when you are playing, not as a main striker but just behind, you are still playing centrally and getting in pockets centrally.

“Obviously, with the change in manager, you have to adapt, everyone’s had to adapt. There’s people that have come back from the dead so to speak who weren’t involved and also people who were playing week in week out that aren’t getting any minutes at all at the moment.”

Albion are still without Greg Halford for the visit of Leeds. The on-loan utility player from Nottingham Forest has failed to recover from a knee injury.