SHEFFIELD UNITED 1 ALBION 0

This numbing defeat was not just down to one very bad miss.

Let’s be clear about that.

But somehow the sight of Neal Maupay scooping a potential equaliser over the bar after some brilliant approach play summed up an evening which followed a tediously familiar pattern.

It’s an easy and obvious observation to make.

Pretty much an open goal, you might say.

But Albion HAVE to start taking more of the gilt-edged chances that come their way.

Not half-chances but clear openings. Half-goals in fact.

Finding a solution to that is more difficult – and could be very costly.

But so much is in place it remains maddening to see them still not safe and now back in 17th place after Burnley’s 4-0 win at Wolves yesterday.

Of course there is room for improvement in every area. There always will be.

Analysis these days for those of us outside the game almost demands you try to find something clever you think others have missed.

But it is hard to see the Seagulls making the further progress they should without a more clinical touch in front of goal. Be it from a current player or someone new.

This time it was Maupay in the spotlight after he wasted a low cross delivered by lively sub Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

On initial viewing from the stand it seemed unfathomable he could miss.

Replays showed the ball arrived on Maupay’s back foot and emphasised it was travelling at great pace.

So not quite as unmissable a chance as it had looked.

But to make excuses for the Frenchman would be to insult or disrespect him and his ability.

He is good enough to score from there. Simple as that.

But it is not just Maupay.

One thinks back to similarly bad misses by different players against West Brom, Burnley, Fulham and at home to the Blades.

Four opponents against whom the Seagulls have taken six points out of 24.

They have also been guilty of poor defensive moments in those games, not least on Saturday.

But it is hard to look at results against those aforementioned four opponents (1-1, 0-1, 1-1, 0-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-1) and say the key shortcoming has been a defensve one.

In Maupay’s case, the jury remains out as to whether he can be a prolific goalscorer at this level.

He is lively, busy and can certainly be a threat in terms of troubling defences and helping create danger. A willing and hard worker.

He has shown of late an ability to pull out wide and deliver quality crosses.

But Albion’s work continues to miss the final touch it really merits.

A common argument is that they cannot break down teams who allow them a lot of possession. That they are better when they have less of the ball.

I’m still not sure about all that.

True, they cannot break teams down when they play at a pedestrian pace, take too many touches and look short of ideas.

But they can open them up at will when they increase the tempo.

While you can always create more openings, they have broken down sides such as Crystal Palace (home and away), West Brom (especially away) and Sheffield United sufficiently to have scored more goals than they have and therefore won more matches.

Here they poured men forward in the second half, without reward.

Head coach Graham Potter said: “We were taking too many touches (in the first half), maybe. A little bit off the pace in terms of what we usually do.

“We still created a decent chance with Neal before they scored.

“But then we gave a poor goal away.

“Once you are 1-0 down it gives them life and encouragement and then the game becomes complicated. That’s normal.”

Yves Bissouma offered some midfield drive early on with a run and a pass which sent Maupay through.

His shot was well blocked by Aaron Ramsdale.

But Albion trailed to a scrappy goal in the 19th minute.

They lost possession in the United half, Adam Webster was caught between two stools out wide, Joel Veltman did not make a telling clearance of the resulting cross and Pascal Gross was beaten in a 50-50 which resulted.

That all allowed David McGoldrick to finish calmly amid the wreckage.

Albion rejigged their shape at the break and had more width, tempo, direction and urgency straight from the start of the second half.

Ramsdale saved from Adam Lallana, which was straightforward.

Then he did really well to get down to his right to parry from Maupay after Lallana’s clever pass was deftly touched on by Danny Welbeck.

NEAL MAUPAY SAYS ALBION AREN'T HAPPY JUST ABOVE THE RELEGATION ZONE

Video ref Michael Oliver spotted Jakub Moder was coming back from an offside position when he turned home what he thought was the equaliser from a corner which had been flicked on by Webster as he tried to get out of its way.

Welbeck could not quite get his head sufficiently around a tempting cross delivered by Jahanbakhsh.

And Ramsdale threw himself to his left to tip away a long-ranger from Jose Izquierdo, who carried the ball from deep, cut inside and shot right-footed.

A goal there would have been fairytale stuff for the Colombia winger on his comeback after two injury-ravaged years.

But this was not a night for happy endings for Albion.

JAHANBAKHSH AND IZQUIERDO HAVE ROLE TO PLAY

The hosts celebrated a rare win and the Seagulls remain seven points ahead of Fulham.

That should still be enough.

But they are not doing themselves justice.