Mark Lawrenson reckons the art of defending isn’t what it was.

But the Albion legend knows who can sort that out in our Greatest Ever XI.

Lawrenson and Steve Foster have been voted in as the centre-back pairing by you, the readers of The Argus and theargus.co.uk.

They are the first members of the side you selected back in 2005 to keep their places.

Lawrenson reckons that underlines the enduring magic of a successful side built on team spirit.

Plus recognition that there is no substitute for a rock solid defence.

“It’s nice to be voted in,” he told The Argus.

LEADING VOTE WINNERS

  • Foster and Lawrenson 47%
  • Upson and Lawrenson 17%
  • Stevens and Lawrenson 16%
  • Foster and Upson 8%
  • Greer and Upson 4%
  • Foster and Stevens 3%
  • Others 5%

“I’ve been trying to pick an XI from the players I’ve played alongside and it’s so, so difficult.

“Maybe every year that passes makes you a better player.

“Somebody said to me the other day they remembered a great goal I scored and I thought to myself ‘Well it was all right but it wasn’t that good!’.

“But everybody knows I loved my time at Brighton. The whole thing was just really good fun.

“Apart from Tony Towner and Steve Piper, I think the rest of the team had all been transferred in. That makes such a difference to a dressing room. When you come into the club they already know what you are going through.

“They know you’ve got to settle down.

“You can’t get enough captains who are effectively your manager on the pitch and we had that in Brian Horton.

“That sort of things seems to be going out of football now. You can’t see the likes of Roy Keane or Patrick Vieira. But Brian Horton was ours.

“That was a big part of our success as well.

“I really feel we had a fantastic team spirit, good players and a good manager who had the backing of the chairman.”

We gave you the option of pairing central defenders from different eras.

A fantasy duo from across the decades of Lawrenson and Matt Upson was second in the poll with 17%.

Then came Lawrenson with his successor Gary Stevens. That classy looking duo attracted 16% of your votes.

But we had a real life double act well clear at the top of the poll as Foster, pictured, and Lawrenson, who teamed up for the Seagulls in the top-flight, received 47% of votes cast.

Lawrenson said: “I can’t believe Fozzie’s in it!

“I’m joking, of course. I’d had Andy Rollings and Graham Winstanley as partners before that, who were similar. They were good players.

“Then Fozzy came in. He made very few mistakes and was great at winning the ball.

“He would get mad at me because I was going off around the pitch playing my football.

“I’d be running past Brian Horton and Fozzy would be shouting at him to stop me. Fozzy kept the back four together, made sure they weren’t pulled out of position and that sort of organisation gives you a hell of a chance.

“That was one of his great strengths. He was mad – but good mad!

“If you look at the Premier League now and analyse how teams defend, the truth is that they can’t. He could. He loved defending.

“He was a defensive pessimist. He thought everybody was going to miss everything and, as a centre-back, that is how you have to be.”

Lawrenson’s theory that the older players have an advantage in such polls has been tested by our readers so far.

Tomasz Kuszczak and Inigo Calderon both made the XI ahead of stars from the top-flight days.

“Whoever got in at right-back ahead of John Gregory must be one hell of a player,” said the European Cup winner and current BBC pundit.

“John could play today in a handful of positions. He had a bit of everything.”

A battle of the eras is already under way for our left-back berth, for which online voting has now opened at theargus.co.uk.

But Fozzy and Lawro have proved to be immovable in the middle. And that’s just how you want your defenders to be.