Albion 1, West Ham 1

Little by little, we are getting to know a bit about Graham Potter.

So far in press conferences he has told us he is quite boring, a pessimist and that he doesn’t go out much.

Which is all very interesting. (And, one suspects, tongue-in-cheek. We have also found he has a dry sense of humour.)

Because his football team are far from boring, play with a captivating sense of optimism and positivity and get out and attack at every opportunity.

We have learnt something else too. Just winning a match does not guarantee your involvement in the next one.

Potter left the tricks of Leandro Trossard out of his starting day XI at Watford, despite some lively pre-season form.

The Belgian did not get on in a 3-0 win but then started against the Hammers.

The Argus: Leandro Trossard (centre) grabbed his first Brighton goal

He eventually rewarded that selection with a super equaliser after having an earlier effort ruled out by video ref Darren Bond and then missing two good chances.

His right foot drive across Lukasz Fabianski to cancel out Javier Hernandez’s one-on-one finish four minutes earlier gave team and player alike some deserved reward.

Actually, Albion were worth a win and would have had it with better finishing.

But it was great entertainment and Trossard, a week later than he would have liked, has now announced himself in the Premier League.

Potter said: “It’s the manager’s problem of players who probably deserve to play and feel they can play.

“Leo would have been obviously disappointed not to play and Jurgen (Locadia, who was left out on Saturday) will be disappointed not to play today.

“I just felt that, away from home in the first game, Jurgen’s physicality if you like would give us the ability to go a bit direct if we needed to.

“But Leo in pre-season had done well. I felt that against West Ham, with their midfield, it made sense to have another midfield player more than a forward in there.

“That was the thinking but I’m lucky with the options I have and long may that continue.”

Trossard darts into spaces and knows how to evade some of the physical attention which will come his way.

But the decision to wipe out his first-half volley after the celebrations had died down and the players prepared to restart might have been a body blow.

Dan Burn, the other big success of the day in terms of individual performances, was adjudged on replays to be just offside as he went to retrieve Pascal Gross’s long free-kick before turning adroitly and pulling the ball back for Trossard to volley home.

That decision looked even bigger when Manuel Lanzini sent Hernandez away on 61 minutes to beat Maty Ryan.

Trossard had a shot deflect narrowly wide in the four minutes between the goals.

Then, when Glenn Murray caused a nuisance, the Belgian picked up the ball, touched it away from a tackle and angled his right-foot shot unerringly across Fabianski from the edge of the box.

Potter said: “I think if you are going to be a top player, you have to deal with a setback.

“That’s the most important thing. Football is easy when you are 2-0 and 3-0 up and everything is great.

“The real challenge is when you have those disappointments and setbacks.

“Good for him that he kept going and got the goal.

“It’s nice to score on your debut. It’s another one of those guys who scored on his debut so again that’s good for them.”

That last comment referred to Neal Maupay’s goal at Watford a week earlier.

It really should be two in two for the Frenchman signed recently from Brentford.

He was only on the field with Murray for a few minutes but it should have brought a winning goal.

Murray turned away from a defender and cut the ball back perfectly from the byline but Maupay whisked it over from in front of goal.

Davy Propper also had a presentable chance to score the winner.

The Dutchman is getting well forward these days. Come to think of it, who isn’t?

He passed up shooting chances a couple of times and, when the biggest opening came, failed to really attack a header as Martin Montoya measured a cross from the right at the end of anther incisive move.

Ryan saved from Robert Snodgrass late on but Albion should be on two wins out of two now.

Whether you were disappointed about the dropped points or encouraged by the performance was up to you.

Those two emotions will have been competing for space in the minds of fans leaving the Amex.

But the prolonged ovation they gave their team was uplifting.

The talk is about attacking football and entertainment but Potter doesn’t see it as being that simple.

He said: “In football it is not about defence or attack. You’ve got to do both. You’ve got to have balance.

“If you don’t defend well, than the attacking thing doesn’t function well.

“If you don’t attack well, then you are going to be under pressure defensively.

“The challenge is to find that balance that suits the players and then it is whether they do it on the pitch and I thought the guys were fantastic.”