Paul Reid is in unfamiliar territory. Albion's versatile Australian is unsure whether he will be in the side for tomorrow's showdown with Leeds.

Reid's name appearing somewhere in the line-up was virtually a given until the hectic Christmas programme.

A remarkable run of 45 starts in a row, stretching back almost a year, came to an end when he was rested to the bench for the Seagulls' last away match of 2005 at Luton.

He returned for the New Year's Eve defeat at home to Millwall, was suspended for the trip to Southampton 48 hours later after accumulating five cautions and had to settle for a place on the bench again against Coventry in the FA Cup at Withdean last Saturday, coming on in the closing stages for Adam El-Abd.

Teenager Joel Lynch, so promising on his debut at Southampton before he was Cup-tied for Coventry's visit, is likely to make his first home appearance at leftback tomorrow, so it's toss-up between Reid and El-Abd for the rightback role.

"I was suspended for the Southampton game and the boys played very well," Reid said. "I went and watched the game and we were very unlucky not to at least get a point, so I have no qualms about being on the bench.

"If the team has done well the week before I don't see any reason for them to change it. I've just got to try and get back into the team now.

"No one's ever happy to be left out and it's been the first time this season for me. That's disappointing, although I had a bit of a feeling I might be left out.

"The manager spoke to me after training on Monday and said it was the best I have trained for a long time.

"It's not that I haven't been putting in 100 per cent at training, I guess you just need to make a bit more of an impact to get back into the team.

"I've been putting in some extra work over the last month or so. Hopefully that will stand me in good stead."

Sydney-born Reid, formerly a midfielder with Leeds' neighbours Bradford City, knows all about the big club' reputation of tomorrow's visitors.

"When Harry Kewell burst onto the Premiership scene a lot of Australians supported Leeds because of that," he said. "They were a massive club in Australia when Harry was there, so everyone knows a lot about them.

"Their facilities up there are unbelievable. If we can pull off three points it would be a great scalp."

Reid, 26, was part of the Albion side that shared a six-goal thriller with Leeds at Elland Road in September.

"It's the only game we have scored three goals in this season and we were up 2-0 as well," he said. "They are in better form than when we played them up there, so it's going to be a very difficult game.

"If you think about the strike force they have they've got plenty to choose from and a lot of them are £1 million strikers.

"We're not going for the point, we can't do that any more. We've got to try and get three points when we are at home and make Withdean a bit of a fortress."

Back-to-back wins at Withdean last month against Hull and QPR have been followed by consecutive home defeats by Millwall and Coventry.

Albion are back in the Championship relegation zone but Reid remains optimistic they can repeat last season's survival, despite a daunting double-header against Leeds and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane a week tomorrow.

"We've been in this position before, so we know all about it," Reid said. "All we can do is grind it out in training and put in 100 per cent in matches.

"We tend to like playing against the better teams. We tend to put in better performances against them, apart from Reading (lost 5-1).

"We've put in great performances and picked up a lot of points against Leeds and Sheffield United over the last two seasons, so we've got to just stay positive."