THE search is on for that most elusive of commodities, a regular goalscorer.

Micky Adams knows to mount a serious promotion challenge next season he must find somebody guaranteed to grab at least 20 goals. The absence of an established marksman in Albion's ranks was perfectly illustrated by an unlucky defeat against one of the promotion contenders.

Darren Freeman and Gary Hart are good forwards in their own right at this level. But their main asset is pace, not goalscoring. Freeman is Albion's top marksman with nine, three of which came on the opening day of the season.

Hart has hit six after finishing joint leading scorer last season with Richie Barker on 12. Barker is well on course for 20-plus following a brace for Macclesfield on Saturday, but the last prolific striker the Seagulls had was Kurt Nogan.

Nogan is unsettled at Preston and has already rejected a £100,000 move to Hull. He will be available on a free transfer in the summer, so it would not be a surprise to see him back in an Albion shirt next season.

The front trio of Freeman, Hart and Bobby Zamora had Northampton keeper Keith Welch to blame for failing to improve their tallies. The 31-year-old, signed on a free transfer from Bristol City, celebrated his 500th League appearance with an inspired performance.

Zamora suffered twice in the first half. Welch blocked his shot after a quick break by Freeman left Duncan Spedding outnumbered at the heart of the home defence. The keeper's right hand then foiled the young loan forward from Bristol Rovers when he latched onto a defence-splitting pass from Warren Aspinall.

Zamora, making his away debut following his scoring start against Plymouth, had one of those days. Early in the second half he should have converted Hart's shot across the face of goal, but it would be very unfair to expect a 19-year-old rookie to be the answer to Albion's scoring problem.

Hart fired into the side netting from six yards from a corner and Welch plucked an effort from him on the turn out of the air. Freeman was also a victim of Welch's brilliance, the keeper blocking his fierce close-range volley from newcomer Paul Brooker's cross for a corner.

Welch reserved his best stop though for Brooker. His right-foot curler from 20 yards in the first half was destined for the far corner of the net until Northampton's diving No. 1 pulled off a fine fingertip deflection.

Brooker, on loan from Fulham, had an encouraging debut on the left-side of midfield, catching the eye with some tricky footwork. All of the close shaves counted for nothing, however, because of Ian Sampson's soft sixth minute goal.

The central defender beat Mark Walton to John Frain's teasing corner to nod in at the near post from inside the six-yard box. Walton, together with a couple of colleagues, claimed he was impeded, but Premiership referee Alan Wilkie ignored the protests.

Adams said: "Northampton are a big, strong and physical side. The one problem we had when you looked around the dressing room was a team of dwarfs. Three of our lads were over six foot, the rest under, so we couldn't afford to give corners and free-kicks away.

"Unfortunately we conceded a corner early on and they scored from it. From where I was it looked a good goal. My goalkeeper is six foot three and he should have been able to deal with it. The lads were absolutely gutted. They knew they should have got something out of the game. Our performance at Hull was disappointing, but I think we've been playing some great football of late and we are on the right lines."

Northampton were second-best apart from a spell towards half-time, when they threatened to double their lead. Manager Kevin Wilson acknowledged his team's good fortune.

"It was very hard work for us," he said. "We had to grind out a result and Brighton put us under a lot of pressure."

Wilson's predecessor Ian Atkins, now in charge at Chester, was at the game to spy on Albion following his side's 2-1 defeat at Swansea the night before. During their nine-match run without a win the Seagulls have lost 1-0 five times. Another narrow defeat is the last thing they need at the moment against the Football League's basement club.

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