It is the reason Darren Currie describes him as the best manager he has ever worked under, better than the likes of Harry Redknapp and Lawrie Sanchez.

Currie has been taken by the honesty of Mark McGhee since his summer move to Albion from Wycombe.

That rare managerial trait was refreshingly evident after a shattering second home defeat for the Seagulls in the space of five days.

McGhee, clutching the video, repeatedly blamed himself in the post-match conference for Albion's second-half deterioration.

Alex Ferguson, his mentor, and Arsene Wenger could take a leaf out of McGhee's book.

Fergie, more often than not, blames the referee when Manchester United lose. Wenger invariably ducks out of giving his opinion on a controversial decision which goes in Arsenal's favour by claiming he did not see it.

There was no such ducking by McGhee, just a heart-on-the-sleeve appraisal of his part in a match Albion should have won after leading 2-1 with 15 minutes left but ended up losing to a sweet strike in the first minute of stoppage time by Matthew Rose.

McGhee's self-criticism does not tell the whole story. Currie, who put Albion ahead with his first goal for the club, readily acknowledged the players' part in their downfall.

"The lads were very confident at half time, being 2-1 up," he said. "We felt we were on top and it's hard to explain what happened in the second half. In the first half we were turning them and making them face their own goalkeeper. I don't think we did that enough in the second half. Why, I don't know.

"We were playing a lot of sideways passes and just weren't as much of a threat. They drew confidence from that."

At the root of McGhee's analysis was his reluctance to make substitutions in the second half.

"We weren't playing as well as in the first half and we should have consolidated," he said. "That's negative and I don't like being negative, but maybe I should have taken off the likes of Currie, maybe I shouldn't have taken off El-Abd.

"Maybe I should have put Charlie (Oatway) and Chippy (Richard Carpenter) on earlier, taken off one of the midfielders and made it really strong in there. I wanted to give the ones out there an opportunity to see it through. Clearly that was a mistake."

Or was it? Rangers' 75th- minute equaliser came during a period when they did not really look like scoring.

Paul Furlong changed that. The veteran marksman's exchange of passes with his partner Jamie Cureton sliced Albion wide open as he slotted his fourth goal in three games.

If, and it is a big if, McGhee made the wrong decisions then, at least he made them for the right reason. Trying to win at home is what supporters would expect. He brought on winger Albert Jarrett for rightback Adam El-Abd, gave the fit-again Richard Carpenter a brief taste of the action for the first time this season in a midfield swap for Dean Hammond and, in another positive move, brought on Leon Knight for Alexis Nicolas.

Sadly, his adventurous substitutions backfired. Albion failed to clear their lines and Rangers were suddenly blooming when a 20-yard curler from former Arsenal defender Rose stole their third victory on the trot.

McGhee could hardly have catered for such a superb finish from a centre half. And I cannot help feeling Albion would have won but for the absence of his own experienced and dependable stopper Guy Butters, sidelined for the first time in more than a year due to a calf injury.

It was a cruel ending after the Seagulls had fought back so well in a stirring first half.

Kevin Gallen, moved back into midfield in the absence of Marcus Bean, had Albion playing catch-up with a well-placed shot in the 16th minute.

The Rangers captain's goal was unfortunate for his counterpart Danny Cullip. The ball rebounded into his path from an attempted clearance by the stumbling Cullip, who had lost his footing as he tried to deal with a cross from Lee Cook.

McGhee's decision to relegate Knight to the bench was vindicated seven minutes later as his replacement, the hard-working Chris McPhee, provided a cross converted at the far post by Adam Hinshelwood after it had been missed by the equally industrious Adam Virgo.

Currie, having shaved a post and hit the bar with two earlier free-kicks, made it third time lucky from 20 yards just before the break.

It was a sumptuous effort from the set-piece expert which rendered Rangers' keeper Chris Day motionless and Albion seemingly on course for a promotion-type haul of ten points from the last five games.

If McGhee still feels down in the dumps today about the way the wheels fell off he should listen to the wise words of another honest manager, Rangers' Ian Holloway.

"I think he is being really harsh on himself and I am sure, when he looks at the video, he will think his players could have done a little bit better in certain areas, just like I said to mine at half time. I wasn't anticipating the team he picked. It caused us all sorts of problems. The two big fellas up front put themselves about.

"You have got to look at what he has done with Virgo. That's a stroke of genius putting that boy up there."

ALBION (4-4-2): Kuipers 7; El-Abd 6, Cullip 6, Mayo 6, Harding 6; Hinshelwood 7, Hammond 6, Nicolas 6, Currie 8; McPhee 7, Virgo 7. Subs: Knight for Nicolas (withdrawn 87), Carpenter for Hammond (withdrawn 86), Jarrett for El-Abd (withdrawn 82), Oatway, May
Bookings, None
Scorers: Hinshelwood (23), Currie (44)

QPR (4-4-2): Day; Bignot, Rose, Santos, Padula; Rowlands, Bircham Gallen, Cook; Cureton, Furlong. Subs: Edghill for Padula (withdrawn 71), Shittu for Cook (withdrawn 78), McLeod for Rowlands (withdrawn 71), Johnson, Cole
Bookings: None
Scorers: Gallen (16), Furlong (75), Rose (90)

Half-Time: Albion 2 QPR 1
Attendance: 6,612
Fans' View:

JIM MURRAY (Brighton) Well done to Mark McGhee for leaving Leon Knight out of the starting 11 but he should have made changes to the midfield in the second half. Adam Virgo should play in the middle of our defence. It's a disappointing result but was put into context by the death of Marie Harding, which has shocked everyone.

SAM PARISH (Hurstpierpoint) We deserved at least a point, but all three of QPR's goals were the result of our sloppy defending. Alexis Nicolas again looked classy in midfield and Darren Currie, too, was impressive in the first half. If we can perform like we did in the first half for 90 minutes then we will stay up.

RICHARD MORGAN (Hove) After some decent performances in our previous four games, I was quite disappointed with this showing. If we are intent on staying in this division, we have to show a lot more commitment. On the bright side of things, Darren Currie is getting better with every game and is already a good bet for player of the year.

JUDY CARTER (QPR fan) It was a fair score at half-time because your left-winger (Currie) was putting over a lot of dangerous crosses. Holloway must have said something at half-time because we took over the game in the second half and totally dominated. Good luck to Brighton with their new stadium.