Russell Slade ranks rescuing Albion from relegation as one of his greatest achievements.

He puts saving the Seagulls on a par with guiding Grimsby and Yeovil to play-off finals, because he had so little time to put things right.

Albion were third-bottom, their lowest position of the season, when Slade took charge at the start of March.

They took 20 points from 13 games, squeezed into eight weeks, to ease clear of the drop zone.

Slade said: “It has to rank right up there, simply because when you get to a couple of play-off finals you’ve had 46 games to get that right or maybe even, as was the case for me at Grimsby, the season before to develop that.

“With 13 games you haven’t got time to build, all you have got time to do is adapt in a very challenging situation and get the best out of the group.

“That is why it will rank up there as one of the best achievements, because of the lack of time. I am just delighted that the players responded.”

Slade attributes the Seagulls’ end-of-season surge away from trouble to the players grasping a system which allowed Dean Cox freedom to roam from the left, adjacent to a narrow three-man midfield.

He said: “I think it was really important to identify the players’ roles in a shape that they were going to be comfortable at doing and that means getting things right on the training ground so that they know their individual jobs and collective jobs.

“That was a slight problem to start with, because, for example, the first time I went slightly lopsided with the three midfielders against Southend I had to change because they were struggling to cope with it.

“In the last six or seven games they adapted really well to any tactical changes or slight adjustments I made.

“I think as a group they have become more adaptable, if I was to put my finger on it. Within that framework they, in the end, knew their jobs inside out.”

Lloyd Owusu has been named League One player of the month for April for his six goals in six games, which were instrumental in Albion avoiding relegation.