Albion manager Mark McGhee today confirmed an interest in Sam Parkin of Ipswich as the hunt continues for a target man before the transfer deadline at the end of August.

McGhee has switched his attention to Parkin after failing to land Neil Shipperley, Danny Dichio or Ben Burgess.

"Sam Parkin has been one on our list for some time," McGhee revealed. "We have been pursuing a few simultaneously. He had an injury last season and ended up not featuring too much.

"I had him on loan at Millwall before he went to Swindon, so I have known about Sam for a long time. He could certainly do a job for us in this division but at the moment there is no certainty in it at all."

Former Albion manager Micky Adams, fearing the loss of Gary McSheffrey from his Coventry attack to rivals Birmingham City, has already had a bid for Parkin rejected by new Ipswich boss Jim Magilton.

The 25-year-old, restricted to five goals in 17 starts for Ipswich last season due to a broken ankle, is expected to be in the squad for tonight's game against Wolves.

Magilton said: "There was an initial enquiry from Coventry and we rejected an offer but there's been nothing more since. Sam is still a part of my thinking."

Meanwhile, McGhee wants to "play our way" out of League One after guiding Albion to promotion via the play-offs three seasons ago by more direct methods.

He will continue with an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation against Gillingham at Withdean tonight after Saturday's opening 1-0 victory at Rotherham.

McGhee said: "I hope first of all the home supporters will see the spirit, which in our circumstances is the first thing that is required, then I hope they see that we are continuing to try to play football and pass the ball.

"We intend to pass and play our way out of this division. We know we need that bit of steel in all areas of the team but we are going to play our way out.

"When I came in we couldn't do it overnight, so we decided to keep it simple and straightforward and it worked for us then but we've moved on from there."