Defeat against Swansea at the weekend has left the Seagulls needing one more point to mathematically secure League One safety from their last two games.

Bradford are the only side capable of overtaking the Seagulls currently in the bottom 4, but with a positive 8 goal advantage over the fallen Yorkshire club it would be unlikely you would think…. But with the way the Seagulls are playing at the moment you certainly wouldn’t rule it out!

Our two remaining games of the season are against play off chasing Oldham Athletic, who currently sit 6th in the table, and relegation threatened Cheltenham.

With both teams having so much to play for the Seagulls have two very tricky games ahead and it’s not exactly out of the question we could lose both games, which would quickly erode our goal difference advantage over Bradford if they were to pick up two wins.

This is of course presuming Bradford win their two remaining games against Chesterfield and Millwall and the three other teams below us also pick up a few wins. So perhaps it’s a bit pessimistic to worry about relegation, but stranger things have happened.

At the start of the season most Albion fans would have taken a midtable season following relegation from the Championship last season. But following a very poor run it looks like we are going to stay up by the skin of our teeth which is very disappointing if you think some people were talking about pushing towards the play offs around Christmas time.

So what has gone wrong? Well our home form is the most obvious problem. 5 wins all season at the Withdean tells it’s own story and since Christmas the Seagulls have won just once at home scoring a rather pathetic 5 goals along the way.

Away from home it’s been a different story though with the Seagulls enjoying some of the best away form in the division.

With the amount of young players in the squad it was always going to be an inconsistent season, but in the past few weeks some of the performances have been pretty gutless something you wouldn’t really expect from a hungry young side.

Albion boss Dean Wilkins, who has just put pen to paper on a new 3-year deal, is also a manager learning his trade and at the moment he is learning fast.

The crowd’s reaction at the end of the past few home matches has show there is some discontent amongst fans. A majority of Albion fans understand the situation the club are currently in and will give Wilkins the time he deserves to build this promising team into a side capable of winning promotion. Others though have already started to express doubts.

Football fans are notoriously short sighted at times though and although results have been disappointing of late there have been some good points to the season. Who can forget the 8-0 win in the FA cup or the 3-0 win away to Huddersfield with Jake Robinson’s first hat trick.

Dean Wilkins summer activity will prove vital if we are to push for promotion next season. Experience is needed to compliment the talented youngsters. I have faith Wilkins is capable building this team into something special, but only time will tell if that faith is well placed.

Added on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 at 1:55 pm under Features by Wilka.