Well it’s official. The blip has turned into a full-blown wobble.

Gus Poyet admitted as much after two points were naively relinquished in a 2-2 draw at home to Bristol Rovers.

What has happened to the Albion that passed out patiently from the back, controlled games, carved out an abundance of chances at one end and gave nothing away at the other?

The Albion that went 12 games unbeaten, won four on the spin and kept five clean sheets on the bounce, reducing their closest pursuers Charlton and Peterborough to putty in the process?

That version has, for the time being at least, disappeared and been replaced by a side reversing into bad habits.

The side that, in the first home game of the season, threw away two points in similar cirumstances against Rochdale.

Poyet went back even further to explain how Albion have lost their way. He said: “We are not making the right decisions. If it was one player you can change him but it was the whole team.

“It reminded me a little bit of Leeds away last season, when we were 1-0 up four minutes into injury time. We showed the players then we had eight possibilities to keep hold of the ball and didn’t take one of them and we conceded.

“On Saturday I don’t know if it was eight or 15 but we didn’t do it. The decisions lately have been very poor.

“We haven’t been ourselves for the last three or four games. We don’t go crazy forwards and backwards but we have. I don’t like 50-50 football. When you do that you win one, you lose one. It’s not what we are trying to set up here.

“We need to get back to the way we play and make sure we are in control of the game.”

That is a pretty good appraisal of where Albion are going wrong at the moment. They need to rediscover their mojo, stick to the game plan which propelled them into an eight-point lead at the top of the table.

If the fans get frustrated at times, tough. Be patient, keep probing, keep playing. Do not get sucked into a different kind of game and start defending properly again.

Those principles have disappeared during a four-match winless spell against, let’s face it, pretty ordinary opposition in Hartlepool, Woking (twice) and a Bristol Rovers side with only one victory in seven matches.

The last three of the seven goals they have suddenly leaked during this spell have come from corners. Poyet said: “We cannot defend corners. Funnily enough we trained on it on Thursday because it was not happening, but it doesn’t matter how many times you do it during the week, you need to make decisions on the pitch.”

There must have been an inquest into who was responsible for picking up centre-half turned right-back Byron Anthony from a corner midway through the first half. He had a free header, which Casper Ankergren might have saved but for an unfortunate diversion into the roof of the net off Gary Dicker.

The quality of service into new striker Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes was poor and Albion needed a stroke of luck to restore equilibrium just beyond the hour.

A penetrating left-wing cross by Marcos Painter, just out of Wood’s reach at the near post, was chested into his own net at the far post by Jeff Hughes.

An important three points were there for the taking when, 18 minutes from time, substitute Glenn Murray turned Anthony from Gordon Greer’s low ball into the box and was blatantly brought down by Rovers’ goalscorer.

Wood calmly converted, high to the left of Mikkel Andersen, and the Seagulls at that stage of the afternoon were on course for an eight-point cushion again.

They should have seen the game out, just as they should have once they had gone 1-0 up at Woking, but they were too gung-ho and willing to trade blows.

They paid a heavy price from another corner to the near post three minutes into stoppage time, which Andersen went up for and which went in off the back of the head of the unsighted and unfortunate Elliott Bennett.

Poyet said: “In the second half we did the most difficult part by coming back and going in front and then we made it 50-50. I have to give Bristol credit but if we had played against them a month ago and we were 2-1 up with eight minutes to go I can promise you they wouldn’t have touched the ball.

“We wanted to keep going forward. We kept on running and giving our opponents the possibility of breaking. That is unacceptable and we were punished. Sometimes you get what you deserve and we got what we deserved.”

Wood’s debut was encouraging but Albion will have to be careful not to get sucked into going direct more frequently with him in the team. Although he is a strapping lad, he has a nice touch and prefers the ball on the floor.

He said: “I’ve been in for one day and had one game. Over time I think we will both find each other’s strengths. I like to have the ball to feet mostly.

“You can see there is quality all the way through the team. We just didn’t have the final ball or pass in the final third. That’s something we will work on and hopefully put right against Southampton.”

Rovers’ late equaliser has added significance to tomorrow night’s South Coast derby. The momentum is against Albion at the moment and they badly missed broken leg victim Kazenga LuaLua on Saturday – who wouldn’t in this division?

It has been left to Bennett to provide width until LuaLua is replaced. The calibre of his stand-in will be crucial, as will the speed of recovery from the current bad spell. They were bound to have one at some stage and Albion are still in a very healthy situation but, with almost two-thirds of the season still remaining, they must not let the wobble develop into a nosedive. Albion (4-1-2-1-2): Ankergren; Calderon, Greer (Elphick 74), El-Abd, Painter; Kishishev; Battipiedi (Smith 63), Dicker; Bennett; Wood, Barnes (Murray 63). Subs not used: Brezovan, Baz, Hart, Kasim.

Goals: Hughes (62) own goal, Wood (73) penalty.

Red cards: None.

Yellow cards: El-Abd (15) foul, Kishishev (26) foul, Elphick (85) dissent.

Bristol Rovers (4-4-2): Andersen; Anthony, Coles, Sawyer, Hughes; Brown (Richards 78), Campbell, Lines, Swallow; Akinde (Hoskins 78), Kuffour. Subs not used: Green, Clough, Pell, Powell, Jefferies.

Goals: Anthony (24), Bennett (90) own goal.

Red cards: None.

Yellow cards: Akinde (45) foul, Anthony (72) foul.