Dean Hammond could be the next Albion youth team product to catch the eye of other clubs if he develops a killer instinct in front of goal.

That was the message from manager Mark McGhee after the Seagulls messed up the chance to give themselves breathing space towards the foot of the Championship table against his former club.

It is not the goals Hammond has scored this season - four of them now - but the ones he has missed which McGhee believes are holding the lanky midfielder back from attracting attention in the same way as Adam Virgo and Dan Harding did in the summer.

It took only three minutes for Hammond to end a two-month drought against Millwall with a far post header from a free-kick, delivered in pinpoint fashion from close to the corner flag by Alex Frutos.

But it was the opportunity which went begging three minutes before half-time which ultimately proved so costly.

A mix-up between Jody Morris and Paul Robinson left Albion with a man over on the break. Mark McCammon put Hammond clean through but his shot was saved by keeper Colin Doyle.

The punishment for profligacy was almost instantaneous when Kevin Braniff's header from Morris's freekick was disallowed for shirt-pulling inside the area by Bruce Dyer.

It was a shortlived reprieve, Millwall turning the match on its head with two goals in the space of three minutes at the start of the second half after an inspired triple substitution by their new manager David Tuttle.

McGhee revealed: "I said to Dean Hammond in the dressing room afterwards he has become a really good player and a very important player for us.

"He has energy, he breaks things Albion lacking a killer instinct up and gets things going for us and he gets goals.

"He can become the next player who people will be looking to with envious eyes but he has to start taking those sort of chances.

"He has four goals this season and he should have double that. If he can get to that level then he can become a player that people start to look at but he has to start finishing games for us."

Hammond was not alone.

Mark McCammon, who won everything in the air against his old club in the opening 45 minutes, had a couple of halfchances.

Leon Knight, brought on for Colin Kazim-Richards midway through the second half, could also have rescued the Seagulls in the latter stages, notably when McCammon headed down a cross from Frutos and he fired over as he fell from six yards.

Albion are at full stretch all the time to stay competitive in the Championship so, when the chances come, they have to be more ruthless.

"It's no mystery," McGhee said. "We have proven we are not good enough at scoring goals. It's why we've had 13 draws and lost a game like this but it's not all bad.

"We've finished the year out of the relegation zone. We've had permission for the new stadium, we stayed up last season and we're still in a scrap to stay up again."

All of which is true, of course. The table would, however, look so much healthier today if Albion had capitalised on their first half superiority to complete a hat-trick of home victories for the first time since April 2004.

With Paul Reid back in for Kerry Mayo, Frutos for tonsilitis victim Gary Hart and Kazim-Richards replacing the injured Federico Turienzo, the Seagulls were a far more coherent unit than the much-changed line-up which spluttered to a comprehensive defeat at Luton three days earlier.

Reid and Frutos were particularly impressive in the opening 45 minutes as Millwall were made to look what they were when they arrived, a side at rock-bottom.

Tuttle, fresh from draws against Leicester and Watford in his first two matches, decided drastic action was needed. On-loan Liverpool centre half Zak Whitbread, experienced striker Dyer and fellow forward Braniff were all taken off at half-time.

Tuttle also made a tactical switch, from 3-4-3 to 4-4-2, and the zest of substitutes Barry Cogan and Josh Simpson down the flanks and Marvin Williams through the middle made a dramatic difference.

Within two minutes of the restart Cogan released Alan Dunne for a cross-shot which Ben May volleyed in.

The Seagulls were still shellshocked when, three minutes later, the defence dallied fatally in dealing with a blocked shot from Morris and Simpson pounced to turn in the loose ball from ten yards.

McGhee had sensed the danger but his warning went unheeded. "As we came back onto the pitch and heard (about the Millwall substitutions) I spoke to Butts (captain Guy Butters) about making sure we were tuned into it but clearly we did not get up to gear.

"We looked in the second half for that ten minutes a little bit like we did against Luton, looking around and wondering what was going on. It was in our heads as much as our legs.

Mentally we need to be better.

"Their changes unsettled us.

We didn't cope with their fresh energy and impetus and we were 2-1 down before we knew it. To say that was disappointing is an under-statement.

"By that time we had expended most of our energy and we couldn't break them down. We should have been at least 2-0 up at half-time and we suffered the consequences."

Millwall's unlikely comeback, combined with Crewe's home defeat by QPR, was enough to edge the Lions off the bottom and to within three points of Albion when they could so easily have been a daunting nine adrift.

Throw in Sheffield Wednesday's surprise win at Burnley and the handy gap between the Seagulls and the relegation zone, established by the Boxing Day victory over QPR, has suddenly evaporated.

  • Albion (4-4-2): Kuipers 7; Reid 8, McShane 6, Butters 6, El-Abd 6; Carole 7, Carpenter 6, Hammond 6, Frutos 7; Kazim-Richards 6, McCammon 7. Subs: Knight for Kazim-Richards (withdrawn 67), Mayo, Robinson, T. Elphick, Chaigneau.
  • Millwall (3-4-3): Doyle; Robinson, Lawrence, Whitbread; Dunne, Morris, Livermore, Craig; Braniff, May, Dyer. Subs: Cogan for Whitbread (withdrawn 46), Simpson for Braniff (withdrawn 46), Williams for Dyer (withdrawn 46), Phillips, Hendry.
  • Matchfacts
  • - Shots on goal: Albion 6 Millwall 4.

- Shots off goal: Albion 5 Millwall 2.

- Corners: Albion 5 Millwall 6.

- Offside: Albion 1 Millwall 3.

- Free-kicks: Albion 16 Millwall 18.

- Albion bookings: McShane (42) foul, McCammon (52) unsporting behaviour.

- Millwall bookings: Livermore (13) foul; Williams (66) foul; Cogan (72) foul.

- Albion scorer: Hammond (3).

- Millwall scorers: May (47), Simpson (50).