Gillingham 1 Albion 0 ALBION must find a solution to the sharp decline in their away form if they are going to mount any sort of challenge to return to the Championship.

Results on the road kept them afloat last season while they consistently struggled at Withdean.

What a transformation it has been so far this term. A hat-trick of home wins and now a hat-trick of away defeats.

A worrying pattern to performances on their travels is developing. They are failing to see out games and to carve out chances.

Crewe scored their winner on the opening day on 79 minutes.

Albion fell behind a minute earlier at Tranmere and they conceded softly on Saturday with eight minutes left.

Also, they have rattled in eight goals at Withdean but have gone more than six hours without one away from home since Dean Cox struck early at Crewe.

Cox was clearly singled out by Gillingham as the danger man after his starring role in the fluent 3-0 victory against Millwall. The little left winger was closely marked by Nicky Southall and came in for some pretty rough treatment at times, notably when Steve Lomas ran a long way to bring him down and rightly collect a booking.

Cox still looked the player most likely to make something happen. A lovely pass behind the Gillingham defence released Alex Revell shortly after he was brought on but his toe-poke was smothered by Simon Royce.

The significance of that save by the former Albion loan keeper was emphasised when Delroy Facey won the game for Gillingham five minutes later.

Just as significant was the fact that it took Albion until that late stage to force Royce into meaningful action.

He also held a free-kick from George O'Callaghan in the frenzied late quest for parity but Royce was not tested anything like enough, considering some of the promising attacking situations the Seagulls worked themselves into. Time after time they were ruined by a poor final pass or cross.

Cox cannot be expected to pull the strings single-handed.

Others need to create as well.

O'Callaghan has the ability to do just that from the middle of the park. He was demanding the ball again but often from too deep, just in front of the back four.

Jake Robinson is also capable of flashes of inspiration to unlock a defence but he, somewhat surprisingly, was relegated to the bench, manager Dean Wilkins preferring Frenchman David Martot on the right.

Wilkins explained: "In the previous game (MIllwall) Jake got in one cross in 65 minutes and we really need to see a little bit more.

"David came on in that game, produced twice as many crosses and scored, so that kind of made sense to me."

Martot produced quite a few crosses again. Unfortunately on this occasion most of them either sailed over the bar or hit the first defender.

The other change forced upon Wilkins by the absence of Joel Lynch for up to eight weeks with a hairline leg fracture was also a little puzzling. It meant playing the sturdy Adam El-Abd out of position rather than Sam Rents, who is a natural left-back.

Wilkins said: "We felt Adam would give us the strength we needed at the back to cope with what we thought would be a bombardment."

That never really materialised. Yes, Gillingham were committed, which was only to be expected with caretaker duo Iffy Onuora and Mick Docherty in charge for the first time following Ronnie Jepson's departure.

They were also very ordinary, there for the taking, which made Albion's failure to capitalise all the more frustrating. Michel Kuipers must have felt he was destined for a second successive clean sheet, so rarely was he troubled.

Gillingham's best efforts had been from long range, a Lomas shot in the first half which Kuipers pushed for a corner and a volley from Facey soon after the break which dipped onto the roof of the net. The game did not deserve a goal and neither did either team but Gillingham got one, courtesy of a fatal lapse at the heart of the Albion defence.

Facey latched onto a long ball over the top of Tommy Elphick and Guy Butters. The former Rotherham striker held off Elphick's attempted recovery to slot low past Kuipers with the outside of his right boot.

Wilkins called it "a bit schoolboyish". El-Abd's subsequent protestation that Facey was well offside sounded suspiciously like straw-clutching.

It was easier to sympathise with El-Abd's suggestion that Albion had been "done by a sucker punch".

Facey also struck the outside of a post from 20 yards deep into stoppage time. A second goal for Gillingham would have been ridiculously flattering but it could equally be argued the Seagulls are flattered to still be in sixth place six games in.

Perhaps with the exception of a Leeds side playing catch-up there are no teams to worry about but I still fear the fixtures have been pretty kind so far.

One thing is for sure, they will not stay in the top six for much longer unless their away form improves.

ALBION (4-4-2): Michel Kuipers (GK), Andrew Whing (RB), Tommy Elphick (CB), Guy Butters (CB), Adam El-Abd (LB), David Martot (RM), George O'Callaghan (CM), Dean Hammond (CM), Dean Cox (LM), Bas Savage (CF), Nicky Forster (CF). Subs: Jake Robinson (for Martot, 65), Alex Revell (for Savage, 74), Adam Hinshelwood (for Butters, 89), Sam Rents, John Sullivan.

Yellow cards: El-Abd (foul, 51), Savage (foul, 60).

GILLINGHAM (3-5-2): Simon Royce (GK), Aaron Brown (LWB), Ian Cox (CB), Efe Sodje (CB), Simon King (CB), Nicky Southall (RWB), Mark Bentley (CM), Steve Lomas (CM), Andrew Crofts (CM), Gary Mulligan (CF), Delroy Facey (CF), Subs: Craig Armstrong (for King, 62), David Graham (for Mulligan, 64), Barry Cogan (for Brown, 81), Derek Stillie, Sean Clohessy.

Yellow card: S: Lomas (foul, 39).

Goal: Facey, 82.

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