Russell Slade’s route to survival emphasises the size of the task now facing Albion in their quest to defy the drop.

He reckons they need to win the four home games they have left, a tall order considering they have tasted victory in just four of their 19 outings at Withdean to date.

They also need to pick up three away points somewhere and that has not happened since the turkey leftovers were being consumed.

It is not impossible. There have been numerous examples down the years of struggling teams discovering promotion form to avoid relegation when it is crunch time.

That stage has certainly been reached by the Seagulls. Their plight is desperate – six points adrift is effectively seven, given the huge goal difference advantages enjoyed by both Swindon and Northampton.

On the plus side, Swindon are one of the remaining visitors to Withdean and Albion have games in hand of the other teams still embroiled in the dogfight, Crewe, Leyton Orient, Carlisle and Hartlepool.

They are not much use though when you are losing, not winning, and there is not much comfort to be derived either from a tough looking run-in.

The other home fixtures are against Tranmere, Oldham and Stockport, who are all in the top ten, chasing a play-off place.

The away programme features a hat-trick of teams marooned in mid-table, Colchester, Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield, but then so too are Walsall and we all know what happened there last week.

Saturday’s performance, against much stronger opposition, was an improvement on the first half capitulation in the West Midlands, although that is not saying much.

Albion, on current form, have neither the ability nor confidence to go on the run required to rescue themselves.

The result scarcely did justice to Scunthorpe’s superiority, especially in the opening 45 minutes, when it looked more like a match between teams in different leagues than at opposite ends of the same table.

Nigel Adkins’ impressive side, bidding for an immediate return to the Championship, are notoriously fast starters so Slade began by playing 4-5-1 in an attempt to stay in contention.

That soon changed to 4-4-2 with Albion being overrun, Craig Davies switching from the right to join Nicky Forster up front.

A combination of good goalkeeping from Mikkel Andersen and good fortune – Matt Sparrow and the prolific Gary Hooper hit the bar in quick succession for the hosts – maintained parity until three minutes from the break.

The lively Henri Lansbury, on loan from Arsenal, set Hooper up for a low right-foot drive into the bottom corner from just inside the area.

It was the former Southend fringe striker’s 27th goal of a remarkable campaign, four of which have come against Albion following his Withdean hat-trick earlier in the season.

The contest was more even after the break and Seb Carole should have equalised on the hour with his first touch after replacing Adam El-Abd.

The Frenchman side-footed over an inviting low cross from Davies, whose perky performance was one of the few encouraging aspects.

That opportunity apart, the Seagulls never really threatened to restore parity and they were killed off by another penalty conceded by Matt Heath.

The on-loan Colchester centre half, who gave away a spot-kick at Leyton Orient, impeded Hooper as he was about to shoot to receive a straight red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Grant McCann tucked away the penalty to condemn Albion to a 5-0 aggregate defeat from trips to Walsall and Scunthorpe after that misleading 5-0 victory against a woeful Yeovil.

Slade admitted: “It’s tough to take, albeit the performance was much better than on Tuesday, particularly in the second half.

“We didn’t really get to grips with it too much in the first half but at 1-0 you are always in the game. I felt we had a terrific period just after half-time.

“I was disappointed that we conceded the penalty and the second goal, because that really put the game to bed, particularly with us going down to ten men.

“For all the nice play Scunthorpe are capable of serving up, it was one long ball from the back that left Hooper one-on-one with Matty.

“Those situations are always harsh I think to get a red card. There was a little bit of tugging and pulling.

“There might have been enough intent there to concede the penalty but we should have dealt with the first ball.”

As well as Heath, Tommy Elphick will be missing from the heart of the defence against Tranmere on Saturday after his caution count reached double figures.

Three points without them is, as Slade knows only too well, an absolute must.

Albion (4-5-1): Andersen; Whing, Elphick, Heath, Borrowdale; Davies, Virgo, El-Abd, Bangura, Cox; Forster. Subs: Carole for El-Abd (withdrawn 57), Owusu for Forster (withdrawn 73), Fraser for Bangura (withdrawn 77), Jarrett, McLeod.

Red cards: Heath (78) denying goalscoring opportunity.

Yellow cards: Elphick (56) foul, Bangura (66) foul, Davies (79) dissent.

Scunthorpe (4-4-2): Murphy; Byrne, Mirfin, Pearce, Mills; Lansbury, Sparrow, McCann, Hurst; Hayes, Hooper. Subs: Wright for Byrne (injured 64), Trotter for Lansley (withdrawn 67), Odejayi for Hayes (withdrawn 86), Lillis, Woolford.

Goals: Hooper (42), McCann (79) penalty.

Yellow cards: None.