Lee Steele wrapped up Albion's ninth win in 11 matches, then confessed: "I was absolute rubbish."

The Liverpudlian striker celebrated his full debut with his second goal in as many games in a 4-1 victory at Withdean which condemned Carlisle to the bottom of the table.

Steele, replacing the suspended Charlie Oatway, was thrilled to score but disgusted with his performance.

"I thought I was absolute rubbish," he admitted. "I cannot wait until the next game to put it right. "I'm delighted with the goal, but there is a lot more to come from me.

"It came at the right time, because I thought I might be taken off. I wasn't at the races."

Manager Micky Adams said: "I was disappointed with certain people at half time and they were told in no uncertain terms.

"I felt they weren't working hard enough. I told them we were missing Charlie Oatway and they didn't like that.

"They showed me in the second half we didn't miss Charlie too much and Steeley certainly took his goal well."

Steele's strike capped a burst of three goals in 16 minutes for Albion following Bobby Zamora's tenth of the season and Paul Watson's second of the match from the penalty spot.

Watson opened the scoring, but Carlisle levelled before half time with an own goal by Kerry Mayo.

Adams added: "People will have expected me to be happy and contented, but from a coaching point of view there were things we can improve on.

"We have achieved nothing yet. We have got to get to 50 points. How quickly you do that determines what sort of season you are going to have. We have only got 35 so far. Another 15 points and we will be safe from relegation."

Oatway is available again for Saturday's trip to Macclesfield. Albion will go level on points with Chesterfield if they win and the leaders lose at home to Hull.