New boy Andrew Crofts wants to top up his Withdean goal tally after signing a two-year deal with the Seagulls.

The 25-year-old Wales international midfielder scored 17 times in 162 League starts for his local side Gillingham.

No less than three of them came at the athletics stadium in Brighton.

And two were particularly special.

He claimed his first ever senior goal in a 2-1 defeat at Albion on Boxing Day 2004, putting his side ahead with a header helped by a misunderstanding between Michel Kuipers and Paul Reid.

If that was memorable for the scorer, Withdean strike No. 2 will still be vividly recalled by most who witnessed it as he unleashed a stunning 30-yard volley past the same Dutch keeper.

Crofts went on to score again that night, though his side lost 5-2 as they headed towards relegation.

So no wonder he fancies relaunching a career which has faltered somewhat down at the theatre of trees.

Crofts admitted: “I’ve scored a few goals there. I got a decent one, it was goal of the season, so I was happy with that.

“Hopefully I’ll score a few for Brighton now.

“I like to class myself as an all round centre midfielder. I like to do a bit of everything.

“Hopefully the fans will take to me.”

Crofts needs to get things moving in the right direction again.

He was Gillingham captain under the management of Ronnie Jepson and Andy Hessenthaler and, for a while, retained that status when Mark Stimson took over.

Gradually, however, he fell out of favour.

First he lost the captaincy to Barry Fuller, then started to be cast out of the first team picture during last season.

Loan spells followed at Peterborough and then Wrexham, where his 17 games included defeats to Crawley and Eastbourne Borough.

Yet Albion fans have seen some of the best of Crofts and it turns out canny boss Russell Slade has quietly had his eye on the player for some time.

Slade said: “Again I think we have signed a player of the right type, the right nature.

“He has been on our radar for a good few months.

“That’s what we try to achieve, make sure people don’t really know who we want.

“It’s a competitive world out there.

“All managers and coaches are looking to bring in players. But we’re on schedule.”

Crofts last played for Wales in a 3-0 win over Norway in February 2008 but knows Albion striker Craig Davies from international squads.

He expects competition for a pace to be stern but relishes the challenge.

The new signing added: “The manager is still looking to bring in a few new faces.

“He has made some good signings and all the lads here already are good players so it’s tough and good competition.”

Crofts joined his new team-mates yesterday for their first day back at training as they collected new training kit and underwent fitness assessments.

Fellow new signings James Tunnicliffe, Mark Wright and Gary Dicker, plus Joel Lynch and David Livermore back from loans, were among the players being put through bleep tests and the like at Falmer.

The really hard running starts today and Crofts knows what to expect.

He said: “It will be hard work and hot.

“The weather’s always like this when we start training. I think somebody up there knows it’s pre- season.”