Albion manager Martin Hinshelwood has come out fighting in the battle to turn the Seagulls' poor start around and save his job.

He has vowed to stave off the axe ahead of tonight's Withdean showdown against fellow strugglers Stoke.

Chairman Dick Knight hinted Hinshelwood's job will be on the line if the sequence of six straight League defeats stretches to ten.

Hinshelwood said: "I am employed on a two-year contract at this club and I want to see that out.

"I want to be here longer than that, but at the end of the day if the chairman makes a decision he feels is right for the club then he will make it.

"I need a win in the next four for me, the club and the players because they deserve it. They deserve that little bit of luck, but sometimes you have to make that luck."

Fortune has not been on Hinshelwood's side so far. Bobby Zamora (knee) is missing for the seventh match running and is not back in full training, Graham Barrett is still banned and Paul Kitson doubtful with a recurrence of back trouble.

Hinshelwood, however, is convinced a change for the better is just around the corner.

"I took this job on because I know I have got the ability to do it. Whatever happens at the end of the day, whether it's this season, next season or the season after that, at some stage I will get the sack.

"I don't want to get the sack because I enjoy what I do. I've worked a long time for it, I'm not just going to let it go out of the window and these players are not going to let that happen.

"We are having a bad time, but I've got confidence in the players and all my staff that we will turn it around."

Stoke are a point above the next-to-bottom Seagulls following three straight away defeats in the League and another at Third Division Bury in the Worthington Cup.

Hinshelwood says it is too early to regard the clash against another of the promoted sides, managed by former Albion loan striker Steve Cotterill, as a relegation six-pointer.

"Steve drove me mad for three months when he was here, but he did ever so well at Cheltenham. He has gone onto the next stage now and they are just one place above us, so we're all human.

"People say they are struggling and we are struggling, but we've had eight games.

"We are very disappointed with the way results have gone and I think at times we have played better than those results have been, but at the end of the day it's points that matter and we have got to start picking some up."

One glimmer of hope for Hinshelwood on the injury front is the scheduled return from a back injury of goalkeeper Michel Kuipers in the reserves at Bournemouth tomorrow.

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