Alex Revell, an avid collector of shoes, could become Albion's golden boot if his debut is any guide.

Revell scored goals for fun for Braintree in the Ryman Premier League last season.

He carried that form into League One to give the Seagulls a flying start.

Revell's stunning strike two minutes before the break had all the hallmarks of a player who knows exactly where the net is.

The Rotherham defenders were blissfully unaware of the danger lurking when he collected a pass from Dean Cox just inside the penalty area.

They were made to pay as he expertly bent an exquisite shot with his right foot beyond diving keeper Neil Cutler.

The surprise element will be one of Revell's advantages this season.

He has been in the League before, with Cambridge United, but in South Yorkshire and other parts of the country they have probably never heard of him.

Whether he can reproduce his goalscoring exploits over a sustained period this season remains to be seen.

Albion will need somebody to get well into double figures in order to mount a challenge.

Revell could just be the man, if Mark McGhee can finally land a target for him to feed off.

For 12 minutes at the start of the second half on Saturday - after Cox's unfortunate red card and before Colin Kazim-Richards replaced him - McGhee's only permanent signing of the close season became a target man himself.

He made a pretty good fist of it, too, as he briefly foraged alone up front, at one point taking a long ball from Kerry Mayo on his chest with his back to goal and laying it off to Gary Hart.

That is the type of front man McGhee craves. He regards Revell, Kazim-Richards and Jake Robinson as secondary strikers.

The hunt for a much more experienced version of Joe Gatting, who did not even travel, goes on.

Revell might easily have been the villain, rather than the hero, had he not converted so clinically.

Starting on the right of a three-man front line, with Cox on the left and Hart down the middle, he spurned a far easier chance inside the opening two minutes.

Paul Hurst's clumsy attempt at a back-header left him one-on-one with Cutler but the keeper was out smartly to block his shot.

While Revell stole the show with his goal, it was Joel Lynch who really stood out.

The teenager was majestic at the heart of Albion's defence next to Adam El-Abd, who was preferred to on-loan Wolves newcomer Keith Lowe.

McGhee said: "I thought Joel was immense. He played at the end of last season at leftback and was terrific.

"We've always seen Joel as a centre half but felt he wasn't ready for that in the Championship last season.

"We have wondered if he was quite ready at this level for centre half and he showed he is. Now he looks much more like a man."

Lowe may have to wait now for his opportunity. "We looked at him in training and it was the fact that he had not trained with us often enough," McGhee said.

"He wasn't familiar enough with the other back four players. We hope he will eventually get into the team but the back four that played looked solid and the four in front of them worked so hard to stop them getting shots in."

There is undoubtedly a lot more to come from young West Ham playmaker Tony Stokes.

He contributed to the second -half effort following Cox's unfortunate dismissal on the stroke of half-time for two bookable offences, the first for going into the Albion fans to celebrate Revell's goal, the second for a routine foul.

It cut short a promising full debut but Cox did enough while he was on to suggest the tiny first year pro can continue the progress he made during pre-season.

Rotherham, short of ideas and penetration, never looked like equalising until Martin Woods, one of the eight new players used by the much-changed Millers, scooped over the bar from point blank range in the final minute.

That would have been particularly hard on Wayne Henderson, who justified his selection ahead of Michel Kuipers with a faultless performance highlighted by a smart early block from Richie Partridge's fierce angled drive.

McGhee said: "I thought the goalkeeper was fantastic. I said before the game the reason he was playing ahead of Michel was because of his consistent kicking and his kicking was a big part of the result."

Rotherham, deducted ten points for slipping into administration, already look doomed, so we should not get carried away.

At least the mood of gloom created by a troublesome pre-season and the closing friendly hiding at MK Dons has been lifted.

Victory by the same score on Albion's previous visit to Millmoor heralded a narrow escape from relegation.

It is already safe to assume they will fare far better than that this time.