Albion manager Chris Hughton has held up tonight’s visitors Leeds United as a template for the route to Championship survival.

The Yorkshiremen were three points and two places above the relegation zone, exactly the position the Seagulls currently find themselves in, before a run of five wins in six games.

They head south in 11th spot with a ten-point cushion over the bottom three.

Hughton, buoyed by Saturday’s 4-3 win over Birmingham on the back of successive draws at Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday, said: “They are a very good example of what can happen.

“It’s about getting on a roll and a rhythmn and breeding as much confidence as we can. Although they were two draws, we are undefeated in the last three games.

“We are at home. It’s important again that we build on a good chunk of the performance at the weekend.”

Leeds knocked Middlesbrough off the top of the table on Saturday with a 1-0 win in the north-east under Elland Road stalwart Neil Redfearn, their third head coach of a troubled campaign in which controversial Italian owner Massimo Cellino has stepped down until April after being disqualified by the Football League.

Hughton said: “He’s (Redfearn) done an exceptional job. We probably all know there have been very interesting times at the club.

“They have put somebody in now who knows the club very well, has been a big part of the club for some time and is a Yorkshireman so has a good grasp of what it means up there.

“More importantly, he has still got to be able to mould a team together and get the results and at the moment he has been able to do that.

“I expect a tough test. They are in good form, particularly away from home. It’s a helluva achievement to go to the league leaders as they did at the weekend and get a win there.

“They will certainly be confident from that. We just hope the confidence we would have got from the goals in particular and the three points will turn the game in our favour.”