LAST season it was Bas Savage’s Moonwalk, now it is Lloyd Owusu’s aerial bench-press which is grabbing his Albion colleagues and the fans.

The more they see of his goal celebration in the three remaining games the better, because Owusu is threatening to fire the Seagulls all the way to League One safety.

With two goals and an assist, he raised the roof at Withdean – even though there is not one!

He added to his clinchers against Hereford and Colchester to inch Russell Slade’s rejuvenated side to within one point of survival.

Credit must go to assistant manager Dean White for landing Owusu on loan for the rest of the season from an already-doomed Cheltenham, just before Slade took charge at the beginning of last month.

Cheltenham’s top scorer was on the brink of making enough appearances to guarantee another contract and they could not afford to keep him.

Slade had Owusu before that at Yeovil. He ended up going to Cheltenham, partly because he wanted to move closer to London, but also again because he was a high-earner, and Slade was having to work within a restricted budget.

Now Slade is delighted to be reunited with the former Brentford, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading target man.

“I know what a good type he is and, when he is positive and you can get him going, he is very strong in the air,” Slade said.

“He can cause problems and, on his day, he can get a goal for you.

“His contribution was immense and it has to continue to be that way, because we only have three games remaining and we are still in the bottom four. That’s the reality.”

Partnering Owusu with Gary Hart has proved to be an inspired move by Slade. They are such a potent combination that Albion have suffered from the absences of injured top scorers Nicky Forster and Glenn Murray less than we all feared.

Hart, back from a serious knee injury and a goalscoring spree in the reserves, came off the bench to set up Owusu’s goal at Hereford and Gary Dicker’s late consolation against Swindon.

That earned him a place alongside Owusu in last Monday’s victory at Colchester and he turned back time with a vigorous and industrious contribution on his first home start since September, which included setting up his partner’s opening goal.

Owusu said: “Gary is such a workaholic and I’ve got so much praise for the ball he put in for me. His work ethic is like that in training.

“He is tenacious and he was brilliant. I wish he had got a goal himself. He still carried on like a bull when he was injured towards the end.”

Owusu may be noted for his aerial power but he excelled more on the deck. He went past the lumbering Sean Gregan to cross invitingly to the far post, where the unmarked Dean Cox obliged with a rare header.

Owusu’s first goal, from almost identical approach work by Hart, was nearly an embarrassing miss.

He had most of the net to aim at but misdirected his diving header, which then deflected off Oldham’s veteran keeper Mark Crossley, with Owusu on hand to make sure.

Mid-table Oldham, now winless in seven games since the return of Joe Royle, were on their holidays in the first half but showed more appetite straight after the break.

Albion wobbled in a way reminiscent of their collapse against Swindon as the visitors capped a spell of domination by pulling a goal back through substitute striker Lewis Allesandra.

He shrugged aside Adam El-Abd, on for the injured Tommy Elphick, to slot past Michel Kuipers and leave the Seagulls on tenterhooks.

Fortunately, having got themselves back into the game, Oldham threw it away within two minutes.

Gregan and Reuben Hazell should have dealt with a through ball from the ever-improving Dicker but they got themselves into a right muddle and Owusu ran clear to finish with aplomb.

Slade’s tactic of starting with a midfield diamond and switching to 4-4-2 paid off again. Cox’s opening goal came soon after the change.

Albion have now taken a healthy 13 points in ten games under him but there is still an awful lot of work to be done to complete their great escape.

Bristol Rovers, also in the mid-table comfort zone, wrecked Millwall’s automatic promotion hopes on Saturday and Albion go there for their crucial game in hand tomorrow night without both Tommy Elphick and player-of-the-season elect Andrew Whing.

The headstrong right-back was sent-off in the closing stages, picking up a daft second yellow card for knocking the ball away when Oldham were awarded a throw-in.

Slade, resigned to losing two of his back four, said: “It’s not good, is it? Somebody is going to have to step in and do a good job for us. They have got a hard act to follow, because we have won three out of four games.

“I’m not into crystal balls, so I cannot tell you the end story. What is nice is that we have got a bit of momentum going and we have given ourselves a chance.”

Albion (4-1-2-1-2): Kuipers; Whing, Virgo, Elphick, Borrowdale; Dicker; Loft, Fraser; Cox; Hart, Owusu. Subs: El-Abd for Elphick (injured 46), Jarrett for Fraser (withdrawn 59), Andrew for Owusu (withdrawn 79), McLeod, Davies.

Goals: Cox (26), Owusu (37), (64).

Red card: Whing (31) foul, (88) unsporting behaviour.

Yellow cards: Owusu (40) unsporting behaviour, Hart (69) foul.

Oldham (4-4-2): Crossley; Hazell, Gregan, Stam, Jones; Eardley, Lee, Allott, Taylor; Wolfenden, Smalley. Subs: Whitaker for Stam (withdrawn 39), Alessandra for Wolfenden (withdrawn 46), Fleming, Maher, Black.

Yellow cards: Smalley (35) foul, Allott (72) foul, Taylor (75) dissent.