Just over a fortnight ago their goals sunk leaders Plymouth at Withdean and they looked like a promotion-securing partnership.

Now, after one point from trips to Wycombe, Luton and Grimsby, manager Mark McGhee is pointing the finger at Trevor Benjamin and Leon Knight.

Benjamin has scored three goals in four games, Knight 20 this season, but McGhee is expecting much more from his front pair.

"I think Trevor can do an awful lot better," McGhee said. "He was better on Saturday than in the two games before that, but Trevor is a much better player than we saw against Grimsby.

"We saw him against Plymouth, so we know what he can do and we are hoping he is going to produce it.

"It's partly my responsibility, our responsibility, to get that out of him and I am going to work hard to do that.

"Leon was a little bit better, a bit more energetic and industrious. The two games before he spent a lot of time standing still.

"I think he needs to get back to working hard, which he did on Saturday to a degree.

"Leon is not at his best at the moment and, like with Trevor, we have got a responsibility to get him back to his best.

"I think the key in the last three games is what is happening up front. We are not threatening enough.

"We have to get better at retaining the ball up front, to give our midfield time to support and for the fullbacks to get more advanced."

McGhee was a top class striker himself in his playing days, so he knows what he is talking about.

There is more to forward play than scoring goals and he clearly feels it is in these other aspects that Benjamin and Knight are under-achieving.

To say Albion are under-achieving outside the confines of fortress Withdean would be inadequate.

Their away form is more in keeping with a team struggling to avoid relegation.

One win since September, none since November and far too many defeats, a trip to drenched Cleethorpes represented a good opportunity to put the record straight.

Grimsby had not won at home in the League since October and, threatened by consecutive relegations, had just sacked their player-manager Paul Groves and lost their top scorer.

Michael Boulding was bought by Barnsley for £50,000 two days before Albion arrived, with Isaiah Rankin moving in the opposite direction.

It took Rankin, once sold by Arsenal to Bradford for £1.3 million, just five minutes to punish some sloppy defending.

He was given too much time and space to control a cross from his young partner Darren Mansaram before rifling a shot past Stuart Jones.

Albion were only adrift for 13 minutes. Grimsby failed to clear a corner properly and Charlie Oatway's 20-yard drive was re-directed into the net from close range by Benjamin.

It was the sort of day goalkeepers dread. The rain was heavy and persistent, the pitch slippery and the ball a bit like a bar of soap.

Jones found clean handling difficult, which ultimately proved decisive with 15 minutes left and the Seagulls seemingly heading for a hard-fought draw.

He failed to hold a shot from Iain Anderson and Phil Jevons, on in place of Mansaram, forced in the rebound.

McGhee thought the goal, which was awarded by referee Roy Pearson on the advice of his flagging linesman, should have been disallowed on two counts.

"I think it was a foul on the goalkeeper and we are not even convinced it crossed the line," he said. "I think Stuart had the ball firmly in two hands and the boy slid in with two feet."

McGhee did not allow Jones to speak to the press or Benjamin, who was involved in a stormy finish to the match.

An ugly fracas broke out in the Grimsby penalty area as Albion were about to take a corner. Virtually every outfield player became embroiled in the incident, which Pearson resolved with a straight red card for Grimsby goalkeeper Aidan Davison.

McGhee said: "I didn't see it. The only comment I heard was that the goalkeeper head-butted Trevor."

Grimsby, without a spare keeper on the bench, played out the remaining seconds with midfield substitute Des Hamilton in goal.

McGhee had some cause for satisfaction. Adam El-Abd made a solid return at rightback, fellow teenager Jake Robinson showed up well in patches as the third striker on his full League debut and Adam Virgo's transition to a holding midfield role was effective.

"I thought Virgo was absolutely tremendous and Jake is a terrific little character," McGhee said.

Character is what Albion need to show now against Bournemouth, when Benjamin begins his second month on loan from Leicester.

The south coast derby is a good chance for the big man and his little sidekick to live up to McGhee's expectations.

Their partnership will be broken up by Knight's suspension for the visit to Stockport at the end of what has so far been a miserable month.