Albion boss Gus Poyet has hailed the potential of new recruit Craig Noone.

The former Plymouth winger came off the bench to clinch a 2-0 home victory against Colchester last night and send the Seagulls six points clear at the top of the table.

Poyet believes Noone, bought for £300,000 earlier this month, will become a value-for-money capture.

He said: “I am convinced because when he played against us (for Plymouth) he was difficult to mark and complicated things for us a lot.

“We followed him for a few more games, monitored the situation and started finding out about his personality and the way he trains.

“He’s got everything, the package is there. It’s up to me now to slowly bring him into the team.

“I am 100 % sure there are plenty of things he is going to improve. He has just arrived with a different mentality and approach to the game and we need to change that.

“It doesn’t mean what he was doing was wrong, it was just different.”

Noone struck within four minutes of coming on, after Poyet relegated him from the starting line-up, to build on a lead provided by Inigo Calderon.

Noone is ineligible for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Watford. The substituted Radostin Kishishev (back) and Liam Bridcutt (calf) are early doubts, and Poyet is likely to make changes, with a League game at Leyton Orient next Tuesday to consider.