IT has not taken long for the eccentricities of Withdean to get under the skin of Gus Poyet.

Watching one of his players trek from one end of the pitch to beyond the other for treatment highlighted the biggest problem Poyet faces in turning Albion from relegation to promotion candidates in 18 months.

If the Seagulls are to be playing Championship football by the time they move to Falmer then there will have to be an enormous improvement in their home form.

Abnormal difficulties, such as the circumstances surrounding Adam El-Abd’s pivotal absence in the early stages of Friday’s 2-1 home defeat by Colchester, will have to be overcome.

While El-Abd was receiving running repairs to a head wound, Colchester exploited the vacant space at left-back to establish what turned out to be an unassailable two-goal lead, in spite of Albion’s subsequent domination.’ Poyet talked about El-Abd needing a taxi journey to be treated. It must be frustrating for somebody who graced Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane as a player to be lumbered with Withdean in his first taste of management. He said: “It’s a different place. It should be even more difficult for the opposition because we are used to playing here so there are no excuses.

“The only problem is when you have a good spell in the game the fans are unfortunately too far away.

“It would be totally different if we had ten corners, as we did on Friday, with the fans next to the pitch.”