Reputations can often be enhanced by inactivity, even when they do not necessarily need enhancing.

Several key first team regulars were missing from Saturday's 0-0 draw with Woking and boy, did Albion miss them.

A humbling FA Cup stalemate against opponents 82 places lower has absolutely no bearing on the bid to regain the Championship status lost four years ago.

It did, however, offer a reminder of how important certain players will be in ensuring the eight-point lead at the top of League One is not eroded, particularly at Withdean when teams sit back and challenge Gus Poyet’s side to break them down.

The two most conspicuous in their absence against Woking were Kazenga LuaLua, unavailable because Newcastle did not want him cup-tied, and unused substitute Elliott Bennett.

Between them they provide a combination of pace, power, width, guile, goals and countless assists.

Although he did not name them, it was abundantly clear who was in Poyet’s thoughts, as the manager assessed why a makeshift side was incapable of puncturing a hard-working and well-organised Woking.

Poyet said: “If you asked every single player now when a team goes deep and they put so many bodies behind the ball where do you have to go, every single one of them would say wide but why didn’t they go wide?

“Why did ‘Chino’ (Cristian Baz) keep going in-field, why did Calde and Marcos go inside and Jamie Smith when he came on and we wanted him to go on the outside?

“That was a problem. We were too static as well. There was no invention in the game, no one to do something special to win the game, a one-two or flick or pass that would kill any defence. There is no doubt we missed that extra quality.”

Nobody will be more disappointed than Baz. He has made better progress than could reasonably have been expected since his summer move from Argentina with Agustin Battipiedi.

The talented and versatile striker was identified by Woking manager Graham Baker from scouting reports on Albion’s reserves as the chief threat but Baz, substituted after an hour, is not ready yet to fill the boots of LuaLua or Bennett.

Poyet said: “He was one of the players who wanted to impress, to do too many things, to have shots from anywhere. Unfortunately for ‘Chino’ he didn’t make the right decisions, especially on the ball.

“We put him on the left, in the middle, on the right but it wasn’t to be, so that is why we changed it.”

Baz was not alone in falling below expectations. An Albion side showing six changes to the one which brushed aside feeble Exeter four days earlier also missed the composure and experience of both Radostin Kishishev in midfield and Gordon Greer at the back.

Greer knew Woking would be no pushovers. He played for Swindon when they struggled to beat them 1-0 at home in the first round last year.

Lewis Dunk by no means had a bad home debut but the naivety of the 18-year-old was evident in the second half, as Albion ran out of patience.

Poyet said: “In the first half he did quite well, then, because of the situation, he was one of the players who started to do things he doesn’t do normally, changing the ball, going too long, playing with a little bit more risk.”

Poyet has mentioned more than once recently that the players have been making the right decisions for themselves out on the pitch.

Not this time. Even the normally impeccable Inigo Calderon, re-instated as skipper in Greer’s absence, chose badly when a cute pass from willing substitute Gary Hart gave Albion their clearest sight of goal midway through the second half.

The Spaniard, galloping into space through the inside channel, struck his shot more towards Andrew Little at his near post rather than across him towards the far post, where even if misdirected a team-mate might have applied a decisive touch.

That was the Seagulls’ first shot on target and at least it forced the Woking keeper to make a save. He is well-named because he had little to do, although he might have got his hands dirty with 11 minutes left if a drive from substitute Battipiedi had not been deflected narrowly wide.

Poyet admitted Albion’s below-par performance caught him by surprise. He said: “It was not what I was expecting. We cannot say it was right, because it was not. We have played really difficult games at home this season and sorted it out somehow but we didn’t this time.”

Did he learn more, I wondered, than if his team has prevailed 2-0? “Probably but the problem here is learning things maybe you didn’t want to, because they are negative things and I prefer to be learning things that make us move forward.

“I’m not really, really disappointed because I understand the players. We’ve seen worse situations in FA Cup games, with teams in the Premiership even going down against teams in non-league.

“That’s football, that’s the Cup, but I was not expecting this situation. I think we had more shots off target than in any other game this season and that is because we made really bad decisions.”

But for Peter Brezovan, Woking would be celebrating even more of an upset. Although the giant Slovakian had only one save to make on his return between the posts it was a significant one.

Albion were outnumbered at the back by a quick counter-attack in the first half when he spread himself to block the clean-through Moses Ademola, who obligingly pushed the ball too far at the critical moment.

An otherwise comfortable fifth clean sheet in succession was comforting ahead of Saturday’s far more important trip to Hartlepool, when Albion’s big guns will be back. Most, if not all, of the players that messed up against Woking will be asked to make amends in the replay three days later, which emphasises the FA Cup is low priority.

Poyet said: “It won’t change my life at all. I know it will change the lives of the supporters, because they loved what we did last year when we went to Aston Villa.”

Albion (4-1-2-1-2): Brezovan; Calderon, Elphick, Dunk, Painter (Smith 73); Bridcutt; Sparrow, Dicker; Baz (Hart 60); Murray (Battipiedi 53), Barnes. Subs not used: El-Abd, Bennett, Poke, Taricco.

Goals: None.

Yellow cards: None.

Woking (4-5-1): Little; Anane, McNerney, Doyle, Thomas; Federico (Watkins 71), Ricketts, Maledon, Quarm (Turnbull 66), Ademola; Hammond (Sogbanmu 60). Subs not used: Faulconbridge, Inns, Gilroy, Pegler.

Goals: None.

Yellow cards: Ricketts (85) foul.