Gus Poyet has urged his Albion midfielders to join the goal spree in the absence of leading marksman Craig Mackail-Smith.

The Seagulls have scored 14 goals in the five straight wins which have catapulted them to the top of the Championship.

Mackail-Smith, missing against Birmingham with a hamstring injury, has hit six of them and Ashley Barnes three.

Now Poyet wants his central midfielders, along with the likes of flying wide man Kazenga LuaLua, to start contributing.

He told The Argus: “We are not thinking Macca is the only one that is going to score. We need to make sure the rest do their bit as well. We are trying to convince a few players that they need to score more goals.

“That can be Gary Dicker or Dean Hammond or Crofty (Andrew Crofts ) or Kazenga LuaLua. They need to score goals, to add things.

“I’m not going to ask the defenders to score too many goals. If they can pop up with a few great but the players with an opportunity to get into the box need to score goals.

“Every single one of them has been in a position to score. Gary at Watford had a great chance, Dean has had two or three.”