Albion could get a little bit of help from a former Crystal Palace and Portsmouth favourite in the battle for survival.

That is if their borrowed left back finds he needs a bit of defensive advice.

Gary Borrowdale, 23, has signed on loan for the rest of the season from QPR, for whom he has yet to make a first team appearance.

By contrast he turned out 114 times, 85 of them as a starter, for Palace before moving to Coventry City.

The Palace connection also helped him secure his only first team action this season, when he made five loan appearances for League One side Colchester early in the campaign.

Former Pompey and Palace defender Kit Symons was the man who took Borrowdale to Essex when he went in as caretaker boss shortly after Geraint Williams, now in charge of Leyton Orient, left the club.

And it is Symons who remains a major influence in his career.

Borrowdale, signed on an emergency loan after Albion lost Jim McNulty to a season-ending internal injury, said: “Kit is top man in my opinion.

“He helps me out and is always on the other end of the phone if I need advice, which is good to know.

“I went to Colchester with Kit in charge. I played for Kit at Palace and he asked if I fancied going down to get some games and help him out.

“I enjoyed it there but a new manager came in with his own players which is fair enough.”

Borrowdale trained for the first time with his new Albion colleagues this morning and said he was impressed.

He said: “I’m enjoying it at QPR but you need to play games.

“This is a good opportunity at a big team. They are in a false position in the league and it’s up to us to get out of it.

“You see bits on the TV but I’ve played in this division with Colchester and they were down the bottom and they had a good squad as well.

“It is getting a bit more like the Championship in that anyone can beat anyone.

“If you don’t perform then the league position shows that.

“From what I’ve seen in training they are in a false position but you have got to get the results.

“I knew about the loan for a couple of days then made up my mind to come. No footballer likes not playing so I’m glad I got the opportunity.”

Borrowdale is by no means the first player or manager with Coventry and/or Colchester connections to join Albion this season.

The familiar faces for him at Falmer today were those of Colin Hawkins and Chris Birchall, from Coventry last term, and fellow loanee Matt Heath, from Colchester.

But no Albion fan is overly concerned about connections with the Sky Blues or U’s.

Of more note, Borrowdale was born in Sutton and came through the ranks at Palace.

He featured in the Eagles’ 3-2 win at Withdean three seasons ago but not the famous 1-0 win for the Seagulls at Selhurst Park a few weeks previously.

Despite the A23 rivalry, however, he is not going to forget his roots over the coming weeks.

“I was at Palace from youth team all the way through,” he said.

“It was a long time ago now but I still have good feelings for Palace because they gave me my debut.

“You never forget things like that.”