Albion have secured a small piece of club history for their head coach Graham Potter.

The Seagulls have gone five games unbeaten away from home after winning 1-0 at Norwich yesterday.

That is NOT an outright top-flight record for the club but it IS for a manager or head coach.

Albion went five without defeat on their First Division travels back in 1981 – but across two different seasons and with two different managers.

The first two games of that run were wins at Crystal Palace and Sunderland en route to the Great Escape under Alan Mullery’s guidance in 1980-81.

Mullery had departed in the summer and been replaced by Mike Bailey by the time the 1981-82 campaign opened, in terms of away games, with draws at West Ham and Everton followed by a 1-0 success at Wolves.

The run ended with a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest after Gordon Smith gave the visitors a half-time lead.

Albion’s previous top-flight record in a single season was four unbeaten under Mullery in 1979-80.

They won 3-1 at Wolves and 2-0 at Bolton and drew 2-2 at Bristol City and 1-1 at title-chasing Ipswich in a period either side of Christmas.

In terms of points, it was more productive than the current run as the Seagulls took six of a possible eight compared to seven from 15 this time.

But both hauls helped them ease relegation concerns.

Superstitious fans will not want to know the good run of 1979-80 ended with a 5-1 mauling at Southampton, which is where Albion play their next away game.

Albion's present unbeaten run away from home was born out of unpromising circumstances when they trailed 3-1 at West Ham deep into the second half on February 1.

The current series of three successive away cleansheets, which included a shutout at Carrow Road, equals Albion’s club record in the top flight.

They managed three successive shutouts on two occasions in 1981-82 en route to their best ever final league placing of 13th.

Graham Moseley was in goal for both those runs and a settled back four comprised Don Shanks, Steve Gatting, Steve Foster and Sammy Nelson or Gary Williams with Tony Grealish patrolling in front of them.

* All above statistical information has been verified with club historian Tim Carder. Our thanks to him.