Albion boss Gus Poyet was on the brink of taking off two-goal hero Liam Dickinson before his late winner against Rushden and Diamonds in the FA Cup.

Craig Davies was ready to replace Dickinson when he struck again four minutes from time to seal Saturday’s 3-2 victory at Withdean.

Poyet revealed: “I was just saying to him at the end, ‘come on, two more minutes, I need to bring Craig on’.

“He scored then so I think I am going to have Craig with his top off and ready in the future!

“I am pleased for him. It was important for Liam to score and to play 90 minutes.

“Everybody knows he had a great chance at Norwich last Tuesday and didn’t score so he was looking for a goal.

“It was a calm finish for the first one and a good finish for the second.”

Dickinson pounced to break battling Rushden’s hearts with his sixth of the season after Poyet’s makeshift line-up had been pegged back twice in the first half.

Dickinson said: “I got the shout to just keep on going for two more minutes.

“He was going to freshen it up and then, luckily for me and unluckily for Craig Davies, I nicked another goal and he kept me on to see if I could score a hat-trick.

“It was very important for me to score because that is what I am paid to do, not just for myself but for the team.”

Poyet has an embarrassment of riches up front for tomorrow’s visit of second-placed Charlton, with Glenn Murray available again after a ban, but he continues to be haunted by a leaking defence.

Dickinson said: “It’s very frustrating. To concede six goals in our last two games is not good enough.

“We have worked very hard on our defending in the past two weeks so it’s disappointing.

“We are not conceding really good goals, we are making mistakes ourselves and we need to tighten up.”