Martin Hinshelwood has pledged to make history repeat itself by steering Brighton and Hove Albion out of strife.

The Seagulls head to Yorkshire on Saturday to face Rotherham on the back of seven straight League defeats, but Hinshelwood has seen it all before.

The beleaguered boss was Barry Lloyd's assistant when Albion were previously promoted to the next-to-top tier of English football.

They kicked off the 1988-89 campaign with six League defeats on the trot and an embarrassing exit from the League Cup, losing both legs to Southend who were a division lower.

"I've been there and seen it and we'll keep going," Hinshelwood vowed. "I'm not going to walk in feeling depressed.

"I'm hurting, but I have got to show faith, as have my staff and players, that we are going to get through this together.

"You have just got to believe that what you are trying to do and what you are telling the players to do is the right thing."

Albion can draw inspiration from the example set by Saturday's hosts. They have four points from nine matches, exactly the same as Rotherham at the same stage last season after the Millers had been promoted.

Ronnie Moore's men were, in fact, bottom rather than next-to-bottom like the Seagulls and they lost their next match too, 3-0 at home to Wolves.

They had to wait until the start of October for their first victory against Grimsby, by a strange coincidence Albion's next League opponents at Withdean.

Back in 1988, Albion went up with the same squad which won promotion. They responded to their horror start by splashing out a total of £430,000 on Nicky Bissett and Robert Codner from Barnet and Larry May from Sheffield Wednesday.

They moved off the bottom with their first victory, also in October, 2-1 at home to Leeds and finished 19th, nine points clear of relegation.

Will Hinshelwood receive similar help to strengthen his squad from chairman Dick Knight?

"He'll have to stop smoking first before he gives me some money," Hinshelwood joked. "We are talking about perhaps a couple of loans. We just need a couple of people in there to help us out."

Most of the criticism from fans has been directed at midfield and Charlie Oatway in particular, but Hinshelwood said: "He will run his socks off for everybody."

He has no regrets about stepping into the hot seat and is determined to be his own man.

"If you get an opportunity to do it you are not going to turn it down," Hinshelwood said. "At the end of the day if I succeed or fail I'd have done it my way. If I fail then I have got nobody to blame but myself."

Tuesday's 2-1 home defeat by fellow strugglers Stoke was particularly hard to take for Steve Melton against his old club.

"I don't think the midfield has quite clicked as we know we can," he admitted. "It has been stop-start with the changes we have had, but given time I think we will get a good understanding.

"You get punished very quickly if you make mistakes and are not concentrating 100 per cent all the time. That is the step up."