Albion today blamed Jabo Ibehre's agent for wrecking their hopes of landing the Leyton Orient striker in a deadline-beating £100,000 deal.

The Seagulls' attempts to buy Ibehre, Barnet's Tresor Kandol and Aaron McLean from Grays bit the dust one-by-one before the transfer window closed at midnight.

Manager Mark McGhee is still hoping to capture Ibehre on loan but he is angry about the role of the player's agent in negotiations.

The Argus exclusively revealed yesterday Albion's interest in Ibehre. McGhee and chairman Dick Knight had a three-hour meeting with the 23-year-old and his agent yesterday afternoon after agreeing a £100,000 fee with Orient.

Wycombe Wanderers agreed the same fee with the east Londoners and, although Albion offered Ibehre better personal terms, he could not make up his mind and decided to stay put for the time being at Brisbane Road.

McGhee revealed: "We like the lad and it concerned me at the time that, although we were offering him a better package, we couldn't persuade him to come here rather than Wycombe. It didn't feel right.

"He phoned me back after our meeting, without his agent there. He was very upset and said he wanted to come to us but felt so under pressure that he's had to go back to Orient.

"Clearly the agent preferred for him to go to Wycombe but, based on the feedback I've had from the player, my intention now is to see if we can get him on loan with a view to completing a deal at Christmas."

Albion's £150,000 bid for Congo international Kandol had already been turned down by Barnet and an asking price of £300,000 scared the Seagulls off.

Grays refused to even discuss selling McLean, an England non-league international.

McGhee said: "The fact that there are three players out there we couldn't get is hugely disappointing. We would have liked two of them.

"We couldn't afford Kandol and we thought Barnet were asking too much anyway. They priced him out of the market.

"We are really keen on McLean but the chairman at Grays was not interested in any negotiations. He just wouldn't sell him."

Loans are not affected by the transfer window and McGhee could still try to borrow Kandol and Mclean as well as Ibehre after the hat-trick of near misses.

"All three players are 23-year-olds who we will continue to pursue," he said. "I'm not giving up on the idea of signing them."

With Colin Kazim-Richards sold to Sheffield United for £150,000 and doubts over the fitness of Gary Hart and Dean Cox, McGhee is left with a depleted squad for tomorrow's trip to Bristol City.

West Ham midfielder Tony Stokes is available for the visit to Ashton Gate after agreeing a second month on loan.