There was a carnival atmosphere inside the ground and a number of people sneaked a free view from the trees behind the South Stand.

Kuipers, fresh from four straight clean sheets, went down to hold a cross by Tracey as Macclesfield made some early running.

The Albion keeper was almost beaten in the 11th minute.

Tracey, chased by Carpenter, advanced into the area before hitting an angled left foot shot inches wide of the far post.

The Seagulls threatened for the first time when Zamora checked inside a couple of challenges to feed Rogers, but he shot tamely straight at Martin.

It was a slow start by Albion, but that all changed in the 20th minute.

The Macclesfield defence was caught napping by Watson's free-kick from the right flank and Zamora headed in his 29th goal of the season.

The breakthrough - Zamora's eighth in the last eight matches - was a carbon copy of the goal he scored in the previous home game against Darlington on Easter Monday.

Albion doubled their advantage 11 minutes from the break.

Watson, running on to Brooker's pass inside the box, was blatantly pushed over from behind by Tracey.

Referee Rejer pointed straight to the spot and it was hard to understand the complaints from Martin which caused the keeper to be cautioned.

Zamora sent him the wrong way from the resulting penalty to move on to the 30-goal mark.

Watson was punished for some casual play on 39 minutes, which gifted Macclesfield a goal to bring them back into the game.

Albion's normally reliable rightback was caught in possession by Tracey, who then advanced unchallenged to tuck the ball past Kuipers.

It was the first goal conceded by the Seagulls since Rochdale's last-gasp equaliser at the start of the month and increased the total they have let in to 32.

That is still two adrift of the record low of 1984-85.

At half time Ron Pavey, former Albion secretary and chairman of the Sussex F.A., presented the Seagulls Under 17s with their trophy and medals for winning the Football League Youth Alliance.

The youngsters then went on a lap of honour accompanied by joint manager and former Albion favourite John Byrne.

Early in the second half Rogers beat the converging Martin and Tracey to Brooker's cross from the left to glance a header narrowly wide.

Referee Rejer awarded Albion a corner, much to Tracey's bemusement.

A remarkable save by Kuipers preserved Albion's lead on 53 minutes.

Keen pulled an indirect free-kick on the left flank back to Wood, lurking outside the area.

His miscued effort was missing the target when it fell for Glover eight yards out.

The former Nottingham Forest forward seemed sure to score, but Kuipers made a fine reflex stop at the expense of a corner.

Macclesfield must be sick of the sight of the big Dutchman.

He produced a wonder save late on at Moss Rose in November to help Albion to a 0-0 draw.

Albion recovered from that scare with a flurry of pressure in a bid to give themselves some breathing space.

There was a bizarre incident on the hour, when Kuipers clearly picked up a back pass by Cullip.

The Macclesfield players protested en masse that they should have been awarded a free-kick and it resulted in both Keen and Tracey having their names taken.

Their frustration was understandable, because referee Rejer had clearly made a mistake in allowing play to continue despite Kuipers' infringement.

Macclesfield made a substitution midway through the second half, introducing Lambert in place of goalscorer Tracey.

Albion made a change on 71 minutes, Steele coming on for Oatway.

Steele joined Zamora up front as the Seagulls switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2.

The teams traded further substitutions, Jones replacing Hart for Albion and the visitors introducing Whitehead at the expense of Glover.

Zamora lobbed straight at Martin with the keeper yards off his line, but he completed his hat-trick moments later by knocking in a cross from Mayo.

Then Watson produced a fitting finale with a superb left foot curler from 25 yards with three minutes remaining.