Craig Mackail-Smith has been ruled out of Albion’s first night match at The Amex – but Gus Poyet has still pledged to field a strong side.

Mackail-Smith will link up instead with the Scotland squad for a friendly against Denmark at Hampden Park next Wednesday, the day after the Seagulls host Gillingham in the Carling Cup.

Poyet named a weakened team in the Seagulls’ first round exit from the Carling Cup at Northampton last season. The manager has revealed to The Argus a change in policy this time.

He said: “We are going to treat the cups in a different way this year. We are going to try to go through and do well.

“Last year there was one aim, getting up. The (Carling) Cup could be interesting, a great chance to bring teams to The Amex. If you get lucky in two or three draws then you can be against a Premier League team so I will take it more seriously than last year without any doubt.”

Albion could not have prevented Mackail-Smith joining up with Scotland, even if they had wanted to, since the fixture against Denmark is designated as part of an official international week.

Poyet is all for his players representing their countries but he has questioned the timing of the game against the Danes.

He said: “We will always respect players who want to play for their countries so we won’t stop him (Mackail-Smith) from going. Saying that, it’s not very clever when you put an international game in the middle of a week when you have a cup game.

“This is Scotland, not Australia or Argentina. I think they knew from two months ago that it was a Carling Cup week and there are a few Scottish players in England.

“I am not going to fight the Scottish FA over it. I am going to give him the freedom to go. I loved playing for Uruguay. I will never stop a player playing for their national team.

“It was the same with Chris Wood (New Zealand) last season, at an important time for us.

“I am very pleased for Craig and I would, of course, like him to play. It would be very disappointing if he goes to Scotland, misses the Gillingham game and doesn’t play so it’s up to the manager.”

There is a good chance Mackail-Smith will be involved at some stage against Denmark, as he is one of only four strikers in the squad with Kenny Miller, David Goodwillie and Steven Naismith.

The Seagulls’ £2.5million striker made his international debut as a late substitute against Brazil in a friendly at the Emirates Stadium in March.

Born in Watford, Mackail-Smith qualifies to play for Scotland through his grandmother.

He told The Argus last month, shortly after signing from Peterborough: “Brighton have given me the opportunity to play in the Championship. Hopefully I can score goals and that will help me achieve more Scotland games.

“I’m very proud to represent Scotland and I’ve always said to my family if I get the opportunity I’d love to play for them.”

Mackail-Smith will not ordinarily face a club versus country conflict this season. International breaks are built into the Championship fixture programme, freeing him up for Scotland’s Euro qualifiers in September and October against the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Liechtenstein and world champions Spain.