McGhee rues Currie departure

DARREN Currie's move to Ipswich is the main reason why Brighton are staring relegation in the face, according to manager Mark McGhee, writes Derek Davis.

DARREN Currie's move to Ipswich is the main reason why Brighton are staring relegation in the face, according to manager Mark McGhee, writes Derek Davis.

The Seagulls boss made the cash-strapped club a tidy £250,000 profit by selling Currie to Town just five months after capturing him from Wycombe Wanderers for nothing.

But since that move in December Albion have slid down the table, and they need at least a point from Sunday's game to ensure they don't go down, or else they will be hoping that Crewe slip up at home to Coventry – managed by ex-Seagulls boss Micky Adams – or that Gillingham lose at Nottingham Forest.

McGhee said: "Darren was our most creative player.

"I think Darren would have been a big influence and would have had the ability to get us even more points, particularly during the period over Christmas when we became a better team and really started getting results.

"We have adjusted around the loss of Darren, but we would be safe by now if he had stayed.

"He has been impossible to replace. We've had to do other things. We've played different shapes and different people.

"Ipswich took him because he is a unique player and he has done brilliantly for them. There are not many players in the game like Darren at any level with his technical ability."

McGhee fears that Currie could make the difference on Salvation Sunday but has planned something special for the tattooed wonder.

He said: "Of course it is a worry that he might bend in a free-kick against us. He has got the ability to do that, but we have Adam El-Abd lined up for him so he will know what to expect."

Mark McCammon could get a shock recall after falling out with his manager with Chris McPhee losing out after a poor showing last weekend.