Albion’s cup dream ended with an unlucky defeat to Hartlepool in front of an attendance of 3288.

It started well when, after 28 minutes, a ball from Cox across the face of the goal found Forster who flicked it past the defender and into an open net. Albion then played out the first half without many problems.

Hartlepool's only attack was cleared off the line by Richards.

It went wrong after the break. The home team came out strong but three good stops from Kuipers kept them at bay until the 67th minute when the linesman flagged and gave them a suspect penalty that levelled the scores.

Just three minutes later Albion found themselves behind when a shot from outside the box went through a sea of players and into the net. 2-1.

At the end of the game Murray did score but the linesman flagged for offside, another suspect decision, and Fraser should have done better but screwed his shot wide as the game was drawing to a close.

So out of the cup for another year. On Saturday Huddersfield visit Withdean - a winnable game, but I think it will be a draw.

My player ratings: Kuipers 7 Whing 5 Elphick 7 Hawkins 5 Richards 6 Fraser 5 Livermore 5 El abd 4 Cox 7 Forster 8 Murray 5 Cook 5 Robinson 5 Fleetwood 5