Albion manager Mark McGhee told supporters today "trust me", as the Seagulls fight for survival in the Championship.

Fans criticised McGhee's squad selection for Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Crewe, which dropped Albion to fourth-bottom.

Top scorer Adam Virgo was a late withdrawal with a leg injury, so McGhee gave John Piercy his first start of the season up front where Leon Knight was also joined by Darren Currie, with no strikers on the bench.

McGhee said: "If anything frustrated me at times it was the crowd reaction and people shouting bring on a centre forward'. My argument would be what centre forward?

"They have to trust me. People are asking where is Maheta Molango? Maheta at the moment is not capable of playing in this team and making a difference.

"Albert Jarrett was, to a degree, complicit in costing us the game at Sunderland. He is not quite ready to make the sort of contribution we need at the moment.

"Nathan Jones is injured, Gary Hart suspended. We are getting on with what we've got.

"We don't have other players, so there is no point in the crowd shouting out. There are no centre forwards and if there were we cannot afford 99 per cent of them."

A double for 11-goal Dean Ashton, divided by Mark Rivers' sixth of the season, sentenced Albion to their third defeat in succession. Paul Reid, returning from injury, replied late on, the Australian's first goal for the club and the Seagulls' first for almost five hours.

Crewe's second 3-1 victory over Albion in the space of three weeks eased them above the Seagulls on goal difference. Wolves and Leeds, who both won, and Cardiff, held to a draw at rock-bottom Rotherham, have also moved above McGhee's side, but they are still four points clear of the drop zone ahead of Saturday's visit to West Ham.

Virgo faces a fight to be fit for the testing trip to Upton Park. McGhee said: "It's quite a strange and nasty injury. We are not sure how long it will take for the swelling in his leg to go down."

In a further striker blow for Albion, Chris McPhee has undergone surgery to pin a broken bone in his foot.