Albion manager Micky Adams has defended his decision to leave Bobby Zamora out of the starting line-up.

The 16-goal wonder boy began on the bench as the Seagulls' promotion surge came unstuck in the Withdean mud yesterday with a surprise 2-0 defeat by Southend.

Adams stood by the team which won 1-0 at Barnet on Boxing Day without the suspended Zamora.

He brought on the prolific youngster in the first half with Darren Freeman in a double substitution at the expense of Paul Brooker and Nathan Jones.

But second half strikes by Martin Carruthers and substitute David Lee ended Albion's run of seven straight wins at Withdean and sentenced them to their first defeat at their temporary home since the end of August.

Adams said: "I have a dressing room to look after.

"If I'm telling players to keep the shirt and they go to Barnet without him (Zamora) and Matthew Wicks and get a result and I feel they have done the job I set them then they keep the shirt.

"It doesn't matter if it's Bobby Zamora or Alan Shearer, that is my philosophy.

"It might be right, it might be wrong, but I always find it works better in the dressing room.

"As it goes I was perhaps wrong in my team selection looking at the conditions, but I can't get it right all the time."

Adams refused to blame Albion's defeat on a wretched Withdean pitch, which survived two inspections by referee Steve Baines.

Adams said: "I am not going to fault the surface.

"We know the pitch isn't good and we are going to have to adapt to a style that doesn't really suit us.

"I don't think we deserved to lose. We had enough chances to get something out of the game, but it wasn't to be.

"They caught us on the break and that happens. I couldn't fault the effort and commitment of my players.

"I told them not to be too down. There is a lot to look forward to.

"We are all after promotion, but it is not going to be easy and certainly not at our stadium."

Albion are now four points behind leaders Chesterfield from the same number of games after their match at York was postponed.