Albion didn't just give Peter Taylor the perfect start with a 3-0 win over Oldham, they have cured his insomnia as well.

Taylor has had trouble sleeping since losing his job at Leicester. If the Seagulls carry on in this form he will find it easy to kip.

The only ones facing a few sleepless nights are the Oldham defenders. They will be tossing and turning in their beds at the manner in which Albion sentenced them to an emphatic third defeat in succession.

Taylor said: "Since I got the Brighton job it's the best I've slept for probably two weeks. Before that I'd had nightmare sleeps.

"I am under as much pressure here as I was at Leicester. There might have been 7,000 and 25,000 at the last game I managed Leicester, but the expectations are exactly the same from me and them.

"It's just nice to have a good start and the players were first class, especially for the first 20 minutes."

Twenty-eight to be exact. That is how long it took the Seagulls to storm into a 3-0 lead with some scintillating football.

With Leicester losing 4-1 to Liverpool in Micky Adams' first home game with the Foxes, Taylor's predecessor could be forgiven for wondering what he has let himself in for.

Taylor is just grateful to have such a sound legacy. He said: "When you take over from a very good manager, and Micky Adams is a very good manager, you have got to be careful.

"You cannot go straight in and say the previous manager hasn't done it right, because he has been successful.

"You have got to make sure you keep it going and that you don't change everything. That is the last thing you need to do."

The only change to the team picked by assistant Bob Booker and director of youth Martin Hinshelwood for the League win at Huddersfield the previous Saturday was enforced.

Richard Carpenter was struck down in training by suspected glandular fever 48 hours before the match, so skipper Paul Rogers returned to the line-up, having featured in a makeshift side for the LDV Vans Trophy victory at Swansea last Tuesday.

Rogers had the distinction of scoring the first goal of Taylor's reign and ending, in the process, a personal famine stretching back to a home win over Lincoln in early April.

He was rewarded for his perseverance in the seventh minute when Charlie Oatway picked him out unmarked with a pinpoint cross.

His back-header and follow-up were both blocked by Barry Prenderville, but he made no mistake at the third attempt from close range.

Rogers said: "Charlie was taking the mickey before the game in front of the new gaffer, saying haven't you scored yet this season Dodge? It was nice to get one and it came at a great time, because we started brilliantly.

"That was as good as we have played. We played really well against Bournemouth a few weeks ago in the first half, but we created even more chances than then."

Lee Steele almost scored within 19 seconds. Rogers twice went close with headers from Paul Watson corners and Bobby Zamora had a slide-rule effort kept out one-handed by Gary Kelly. All of this happened in the opening 12 minutes, an indication of just how much on top Albion were.

It was a matter of time before Oldham succumbed again to the bombardment and Steele doubled Albion's advantage in improbable fashion. Under pressure from Prenderville, he clipped the ball left-footed over Kelly from the acutest of angles.

Steele is unstoppable at present. When he struck again it effectively ended the contest and took his tally to four goals in as many games. Zamora, watched by a Liverpool scout, has now gone five home matches without finding the net, comfortably his longest scoreless streak at Withdean.

But his contribution to the clincher was riveting. He ran at the Oldham defence on the break before releasing the onrushing Steele with a perfectly timed and weighted pass. Kelly saved the first shot, but Steele turned in the rebound from another tight angle. Oldham had no answer to the pace and movement of Zamora and Steele. They were driving Stuart Balmer barmy, so he decided to use a hand to stop them. It earnt him a booking and he was nearly doubly punished when Watson hit the underside of the bar with the resulting free-kick.

Andy Ritchie, the former Albion forward and boss of the Latics (or should that be Statics?) reshuffled his rearguard once his side were three down. It was the most vivid case imagineable of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

The second half was almost predictably a non-event by comparison with the first, although Michel Kuipers earned his keep with a fine reflex save from David Eyres' swivelling volley as Oldham at least got into the game.

Taylor said: "The game is about 90 minutes and you are never going to be totally in control. Oldham are a good side with some very good players.

"We didn't see the best of them in the first half, but after that you saw some good things from them. We still looked quite solid, as well as every now and then getting a breakaway chance."

Ritchie raged at his team's incompetence in the opening 45 minutes. He said: "We were a joke. In the first half we just didn't compete.

"Basically we laid down. I was very disappointed, it was one of the worst displays I've seen from one of my teams for a long time. The two lads up front were brilliant for Brighton, but our front two didn't do anything."

Notts County and their new head coach Gary Brazil cannot be relishing the prospect of meeting the Seagulls in this rampant mood at Meadow Lane tomorrow night.

As the Albion fans have a habit of singing, it was like watching Brazil on occasions on Saturday.