Albion's top scorer Colin Kazim-Richards reckons he can emulate the progress made by his former Bury colleague Dave Nugent.

The strike pair face each other in a shoot-out at Withdean tomorrow, as promotion-chasing Preston try to inflict a seventh straight defeat on the relegation-threatened Seagulls.

Nugent, 21, was named young player of the year last weekend in the inaugural Football League Awards, backed by FourFourTwo magazine.

The Liverpudlian has been building quite a reputation for himself since moving to Preston from Bury 14 months ago.

He has scored 16 goals in 38 Championship games and will be keen to make up tomorrow for a couple of misses in Tuesday's goalless draw at Plymouth.

Kazim-Richards, a self-confident Londoner two years younger than Nugent, has notched six goals for Albion following his summer switch from Gigg Lane, most of them spectacular efforts as a substitute.

"I didn't really play with Dave that much at Bury," said Kazim-Richards. "He was one of the young lads playing in the first team since he was 16 but I know him well.

"He's sharp and can score goals, as he's proven, but he is nothing that we have to worry about.

"Van Nistelrooy could be coming down here to play against us and there would be no point worrying. If we start doing that then we have got problems.

"I'm not disrespecting him because he's a good player but we just need to worry about ourselves and get on with the game.

"He's a mad Everton fan, he loves them to death. We got on all right. Liverpudlians are all right, they've got nice girls up there!

"I've got a lot of confidence in myself and my ability. I reckon I can go all the way, the same as he is doing, but that is if I keep my head down and work.

"It's not just going to happen. I've had to work to get where I am so far and that will continue."

Kazim-Richards struck a rich vein of form for Bury in League Two at a similar stage last season, scoring three goals in the space of six games.

Another run like that could help Albion avoid the drop, a prospect Kazim-Richards dreads.

"That would be a massive blow to me," he said. "I don't want to play in League One and no one else here does.

"My debut here was Derby away at Pride Park in front of 25,000. Next year the first game could be against Carlisle or Leyton Orient.

"Do you think I want to play against Leyton Orient? No way, I played against them last year.

"I'm not disrespecting those teams but Brighton are too big a club to be playing against them. We would have a massive stadium in different circumstances.

"We shouldn't be in this situation but the bottom line is we are and we have to dig ourselves out."

Kazim-Richards insists morale within the camp remains high and he is convinced Albion will survive.

"People should come to watch us train. They would think we are second in the league.

"On Tuesday we were on fire in the training session. Our spirit is there more than ever.

"If we were second in the league things would be going our way, because we are second-bottom they aren't.

"In the first 25 minutes at Plymouth last Saturday they couldn't get out of their half.

"It's just that one game where we get three points and then, believe me, we will go on a run.

"If we all start getting on each other's backs then we will go down but we are not down yet. We're still a Championship side."