Steve Cotterill urged Albion chairman Dick Knight to give Martin Hinshelwood time after his side heaped more misery on the unfortunate Seagulls chief.

The Stoke boss and former Albion loan signing vigorously defended Hinshelwood amid fears that Knight will wield his axe again sooner rather than later.

"It's a tough job stepping up a division if you have not got money to strengthen the team," Cotterill said. "It takes time for the players to bed down and become accustomed to it. I know that from my promotions at Cheltenham.

"It's early days. I see what is going on here because I know quite a few of the players and Hinsh. It takes time, you have got to be a realist in this game.

"It's a tough job and the clubs that stay solid with their managers will get their benefits in the long run. You only have to look at Ipswich and Charlton."

The sackings of Steve Gritt and Jeff Wood and Knight's remarks after last Saturday's defeat by Gillingham suggest patience is not one of the chairman's virtues, but the battle-hardened Hinshelwood insists he is not feeling the heat.

"I've got no pressure on me, because if I've got pressure on me then I put pressure on my players," he said. "I'm not going to do that.

"I've had a long time to wait for the opportunity to manage a football club and I'm not just going to lay down and let things happen. We've just got to keep working."

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, when on earth is Hinshelwood's luck going to change?

This latest setback against a team also struggling to adapt after promotion was preceded by more bad injury news, included some dubious decisions and another disastrous defensive mix-up.

Paul Brooker, dropped against Gillingham, joined Bobby Zamora and Paul Kitson on the casualty list when he suffered a whack in the ribs right at the end of training on Monday.

Hinshelwood did not confirm whether Brooker would have been back in the starting line-up, but the way the match panned out it is safe to assume he would have been involved somewhere along the line.

Shaun Wilkinson, starting in Brooker's position on the left, literally handed Tommy Mooney the chance to make amends for getting sent-off on his debut for Stoke at Burnley last Saturday.

At least, according to referee Grant Hegley he did. Wilkinson was deemed to have handled a cross by Bjarni Gudjonsson and Mooney, on loan from Birmingham, scored from the spot in the 17th minute.

The lack of vehement protests by the Albion players gave credence to Hegley's verdict, but it was another bitter blow which continued the worrying pattern of falling behind early at Withdean.

Hinshelwood rang the changes in a bid to find a way past Stoke's sturdy defence.

Wilkinson swapped places with Daniel Marney to join Gary Hart, reverting to his former role as a central striker.

At half time, Nathan Jones came on for Robbie Pethick, banned for three matches from Saturday, prompting Paul Watson to switch from left to rightback.

Then, midway through the second half, rookie front man Chris McPhee replaced Steve Melton, playing against his old club.

Wilkinson had shots saved by Neil Cutler either side of the break and Marney should have equalised when he miscued wide from close range as Cutler failed to hold Richard Carpenter's low 30-yarder.

It was a tense, scrappy affair of few chances, reflecting the lowly positions of both sides, and Stoke seemed to have settled for holding onto their tenuous lead when more kamikaze defending by Albion allowed them to double it with 14 minutes left.

Danny Cullip and Guy Butters collided in attempting to deal with an aerial ball inside the box, leaving Andy Cooke to crack home a left-foot drive.

Richard Carpenter reduced the arrears three minutes later with a right-foot rocket from 25 yards, his second goal in as many games.

Dean Hammond, making his first League appearance as a late replacement for Charlie Oatway, could have made himself an instant hero but headed over from a Paul Watson corner.

An improbable comeback still looked on the cards when Sergei Shtaniuk, Stoke's Belarus international stopper, seemed to clumsily bring down Hart five minutes into stoppage time.

Referee Grant Hegley rejected Albion's strong penalty appeals and Cullip and Watson talked themselves into his notebook.

Watson hit the winner deep into stoppage time when the teams met in the Second Division a year ago. Stoke breathed a huge sigh of relief this time, having lost to late goals in their previous three away League games.

Hinshelwood said: "I wish I could go into the dressing room after a game, tear into my players and tell them they haven't tried.

"I'd love to be able to do that, but I've never met a more honest bunch of players. All right, we are lacking in certain areas, but I cannot fault their commitment, effort and workrate. I know where we are lacking. It's down to me to work on that and bring one or two faces in.

"I will be talking to the chairman over the next couple of days. I've got a list of two or three players (loans) I am keen to bring in."

  • ALBION (4-4-2): Petterson (gk) 7; Watson (lb) 7, Cullip (cd) 6; Butters (cd) 6; Hart (f) 7; Oatway (m) 7; Carpenter (m) 8; Pethick (rb) 6; Wilkinson (lm) 7; Marney (f) 7; Melton (rm) 7. Subs: Rogers, Jones 6 for Pethick (withdrawn 46), Packham, McPhee for Melton (withdrawn 68), Hammond for Oatway (withdrawn 80).
  • SCORERS: Carpenter (79).
  • BOOKINGS: Hart (51) dissent, Jones (66) foul, Watson (95) dissent, Cullip (95) dissent.
  • STOKE (4-4-2): Cutler; Thomas, Clarke, Handyside, Shtaniuk, Gunnarsson, Gudjonsson, Cooke, Mooney, O'Connor, Vandeurzen. Subs: Hoekstra, Viander, Iwelumo for Vandeurzen (withdrawn 88), Henry for Gudjonsson (injured 90), Commons. SCORERS: Mooney (17) penalty, Cooke(76).
  • BOOKINGS: None.
  • Fan's View: Paul Whelch (Bow) Seven straight defeats but Albion fans are showing more optimism than the cast of Annie.

It was a relief to hear Brooker was injured and not dropped again.

Two disgraceful refereeing decisions denied Albion blatant penalties and two defensive errors by Albion's shaky backline had already surrendered the game.

Until Richard Carpenter nearly broke the net with yet another thunderbolt, it had looked as though Albion would barely trouble the Stoke keeper.

An A for effort but frankly must do better.