SO Walsall win at Withdean with two men missing for the second season running.

Sounds grim, doesn’t it, but Albion’s opening day defeat was nothing like that nightmare against the Saddlers 11 months ago.

Disappointing? For sure. Disastrous? Far from it, not with 135 points still to play for and not against a Walsall team with all 11 players for the duration of the match this time.

Their shortage was due not to a couple of red cards but the rather odd decision by Chris Hutchings to name only five substitutes, rather than the seven now permitted.

His explanation was that he had every position covered. The suspicion is that it was a cost-saving measure, one less hotel room to pay for.

While Hutchings was understandably satisfied with a gritty victory, it was obviously not the result Russell Slade desired in his first match as Albion’s permanent manager.

But then it was not a good day to be a folically challenged League One boss.

You would much rather be a Seagull right now than a Canary or, for that matter, Hutchings’ former Albion team-mate Danny Wilson.

Imagine how Bryan Gunn is feeling? Angry fans already ripping up their season tickets at Carrow Road is quite a contrast to the bundles of goodwill for Slade following his Houdini act at the end of last season.

The minute’s applause for the late Bobby Robson before kick-off had to be delayed until the south stand faithful’s vigorous and prolonged hand-clapping as Slade made his way to the dugout had died down.

What he, and we, then witnessed was not entirely unexpected, although Slade’s consistent warning that his much-changed side will gradually improve was more in the context of the season as a whole than a single match.

This was the proverbial game of two halves. Albion, with six debutants in the starting line-up, played like strangers in the opening 45 minutes.

Walsall, with the same number of new faces, were more cohesive, but momentum shifted appreciably after the break.

It is too simplistic to attribute Albion’s improvement entirely to Slade switching to 4-4-2 via the tactical withdrawal of Matt Thornhill and introduction of Nicky Forster.

While the veteran marksman is the type whose mere presence is capable of galvanising others, it is not necessarily the end of Liam Dickinson operating alone through the middle.

That system was effective in the closing friendly victory at Scunthorpe and you suspect Slade would have stuck with it, even without the injury problems affecting his other strikers.

Albion’s first half shortcomings were not so much down to the formation – they just did not play very well.

Passing the ball around at a pedestrian pace before aiming for Dickinson with varying degrees of accuracy and velocity made life simple for a well-organised and workmanlike Walsall.

Slade pointed out: “Sometimes when you sit them down at half-time and they realise that is not near the standard we require then you get a better performance anyway.

“We were much more inventive in the second half.

“We need to be better, there is loads more room for improvement. I am not pulling the wool over anybody’s eyes.

“There is loads more work but I have said that. We are not the finished article and you saw that.”

If Walsall’s interval advantage was no surprise on the balance of play, the manner in which it was achieved certainly raised eyebrows.

Andrew Whing inexplicably stooped to steer a header into his own net at the far post from a cross by the overlapping Rhys Weston, one of the two Walsall players sent-off in the corresponding fixture last season.

It was not until the 53rd minute that Albion fashioned a shot on target. From then on, without exactly laying siege to the visitors’ goal, they performed with sufficient purpose and tempo to be worthy of a point, even though the quality of the final ball in both open play and from set plays was lacking throughout.

Dickinson, pick of the newcomers, crossed for the diving Forster to head just wide before almost equalising with a shot from distance which narrowly missed the target.

Dickinson, carrying a black bin liner containing new boots, revealed a keen sense of self-deprecating humour.

“I've been kicked out already,” he joked. “I didn’t think I was that bad!”

He wasn’t and Albion were not rubbish either but they will need to be like they were in the second half, not the first, to gain much from a tough hat-trick of away games against Swansea, Brentford and Huddersfield.

Albion (4-3-3): Kuipers; Whing, Virgo, Elphick, J. Wright; Crofts, Navarro, Thornhill (Forster 46); M. Wright, Dickinson (Murray 82), Cox (McLeod 78).

Subs not used: El-Abd, Tunnicliffe, Dicker, G. Smith.

Goals: None.

Yellow card: Navarro (80) foul.

Walsall (4-4-2): Ince; Weston, Hughes, Smith, Vincent; Till (Bradley 88), Mattis, Richards, Jones (Taundry 65); Parkin, Deeney (Nicholls 74).

Subs not used: Roberts, Gilmartin.

Goal: Whing (30) own goal.

Yellow cards: Mattis (57) foul, Richards (66) foul, Parkin (81) dissent.

Attendance: 6,504