Dean Wilkins today pledged to continue with a more direct and dogged style of play until Albion emerge from their recent slump.

The manager abandoned his principles as the Seagulls, aided by an early red card for Scunthorpe's Steve Foster, ended a sequence of five straight defeats with a 2-1 win at Glanford Park on Saturday.

Wilkins said: "To go to such a difficult place, all be it they had a man sent-off, and produce the sort of gutsy display we did was fantastic.

"I think that's the way we have to go for the foreseeable future, to try to make sure we are tighter than we have been.

"We have tried to play an attractive game up to this stage and it has worked and not worked at times.

"We are going to try to be a little bit more dogged to see us through this period and then just try to introduce a little more football into our game as we progress. We're not just going to lump it from back to front but we need to be a little bit more secure.

"You could argue it's against my principles but I realise with a run of defeats comes a loss of confidence and with a loss of confidence you get edgy in possession.

"We tried to take that responsibility away from the players to a degree and just made sure we got into the opposition's half and tried to play from there."

Captain Richard Carpenter has been ruled out for an unspecified period after suffering a groin injury in training on Friday.

Wilkins said: "He had a scan which showed a tear in the muscle. We've no idea how long it is going to be."