For a few moments on Saturday, the heart took precedence over the head for Dean Wilkins.

Two days of stress, uncertainty, big decisions and hard work found their release in a miscued clearance by Millwall's Marvin Elliott.

A few seconds earlier, Albion had been showing signs of trying to kill time and take home a handy 0-0 draw.

Now they were in front and every player, from Dean Cox in one corner to Michel Kuipers at the other end of the pitch, converged on their new management team to celebrate.

Wilkins admitted that goal celebration was an emotional moment at the end of two tough days.

It was a joyous scene which lasted maybe five seconds. Then the head took over again. Nobody pushes Kuipers around, as Millwall and their fans had earlier found out.

But Wilkins came close as he cut short the party and ushered his players back into position with instructions to hang on to what they had earned.

Wilkins has given heart and soul to Albion for years as a player and coach. But thousands of people put their heart and soul into football.

It is what is in his head that the club are really interested in.

Wilkins' footballing intellect and attention to detail have got him where he is now.

Those attributes stood him in good stead when he met his first crisis in charge as Richard Carpenter was sent off.

Talk about 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 as much you like but, for more than one and a half matches already this season, the Seagulls have been trying to formulate a strategy using only nine outfield players. Wilkins admits that surfeit of red cards is something he will have to address.

His answer on Saturday, from the back of the main stand at least, appeared to be swift and effective.

Along with Dean White, he seemed to be coming up with his ten-man plan even before Carpenter was shown the inevitable red.

Accounts from players at the heart of the matter confirmed this was indeed the case.

Albion's players, especially the youngsters, know Wilkins well and, as Martin Hinshelwood has pointed out, have absolute faith in him because he has got them to where they are now.

Of course, Wilkins' promotion to a senior role in the summer meant events on Friday did not represent too dramatic a revolution.

No one turning up at The Den unaware of Mark McGhee's sacking would have been surprised to see Wilkins out there leading the pre-game routines.

Apart from the return to 4-4-2, things did not look too different in the match for a while either.

The familiar willingness to work, the patches of neat passing and the inability to convert that football into chances were all apparent.

Wilkins stamped his personality on proceedings by bringing forward Tommy Fraser's inevitable progression to first team football.

But, with White, he was sensible and sympathetic in his treatment of Sam Rents, who had a tough first start.

Not half as tough as Lions boss Nigel Spackman has got things, though.

Some of McGhee's critics at Albion used to admit they felt uneasy about knocking him because he seemed a nice bloke. Millwall fans might feel the same if they met Spackman.

As it was, the scoreboard showed exactly 13min.53sec had elapsed when the home crowd launched into their first vicious onslaught after an attack fizzled out.

Being nice (and Spackman was almost too polite and civil after the game) is not enough.

As he left the press room long after the game, Spackman bumped into Wilkins and offered the cordial congratulations there had not been time for at the final whistle.

That was because the Albion management, back-up team, subs and every other travelling member of the squad had gone straight out to pitch to celebrate the win with their fans.

The head told you Albion had beaten a poor side with a lucky goal in an undistinguished match.

The heart said it was a performance packed with spirit and commitment, both on the pitch and in the stand, which will be remembered for a few years to come, as will the post-game scenes.

We'll go with the heart on this one.