Albion welcomed Paul Kitson back to spearhead the attack against fellow strugglers Millwall at The Den.

Kitson hurt a hamstring on his home debut against Walsall at the end of last month.

The injury was related to a back problem he had at West Ham and he has been under treatment from a specialist in London.

The 31-year-old was fit to return to the starting line-up after resuming full training on Thursday.

He replaced loan signing Graham Barrett from Arsenal in the only change to the side beaten 4-2 at Portsmouth last Saturday.

Barrett was with the Republic of Ireland Under 21s for today's European championship qualifier in Russia.

The Seagulls were still without Bobby Zamora (knee), Gary Hart (ankle) and Michel Kuipers (back).

Guy Butters made his second appearance in the centre of defence following his free transfer move from Gillingham.

The subs included young striker Chris McPhee and Nathan Jones, who equalised on Albion's last visit to Millwall. They drew 1-1 in the Worthington Cup two years ago but went out 3-2 on aggregate.

Millwall were unchanged after a double from veteran marksman Steve Claridge secured their first victory of the season against Grimsby at The Den last Saturday.

Their line-up included Brighton-borne Albion fan Paul Ifill, Burgess Hill-based rightback Matt Lawrence and midfielder Andy Roberts, who had a brief trial with Albion earlier this season.

The crowd was a lot smaller than it would have been had the teams met a few months ago.

Millwall now operate a members only scheme in response to the riots which marred their play-off defeat by Birmingham in May and attendances have been slashed by half.

Albion only sold around 1,200 tickets from an allocation of 4,000.

Albion: Andy Petterson; Paul Watson, Danny Cullip, Guy Butters, Charlie Oatway, Paul Brooker, Richard Carpenter, Robbie Pethick, Daniel Marney, Steve Melton, Paul Kitson. Subs: Rogers, Jones, Wilkinson, Packham, McPhee
Millwall: Tony Warner; Matt Lawrence, Robbie Ryan, Tim Cahill, Stuart Nethercott, Paul Ifill, David Livermore, Neil Harris, Darren Ward, Andy Roberts, Steve Claridge. Subs: Gueret, Kinet, Bull, Phillips, May
Referee: Mr S. Mathieson (Stockport)