Albion gave their survival hopes a huge boost with a fourth home victory on the trot against high-flying Forest.

An early goal by Paul Brooker earned Steve Coppell's Seagulls one of their best victories of the season.

A Withdean crowd of 6,830 saw Brooker settle an entertaining match with his fifth of the campaign on 16 minutes.

Bobby Zamora, watched yet again by Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle, caught the Forest defence unawares with a quick free-kick which Brooker slotted under Darren Ward.

A vibrant Albion were excellent value for their lead at half-time.

Richard Carpenter hit the bar from long range and he also had a 30-yarder pushed for a corner by Ward.

The decision by Forest manager Paul Hart to employ a prolific three-man attack in Marlon Harewood, Darren Huckerby and the fit-again David Johnson backfired in the opening 45 minutes.

The Seagulls bossed the game at that stage as the visitors struggled to find any rhythm.

Albion had to work tirelessly to protect their advantage in the second half.

Forest had appeals for a penalty rejected by referee Richard Beeby when skipper Danny Cullip appeared to bundle over Johnson.

Ref Beeby then initially awarded a spot-kick when 24-goal Johnson went down again inside the area.

But he had not noticed his linesman flagging the Forest marksman offside, so he changed his mind and awarded the Seagulls a free kick.

Andy Reid also thumped a shot against the bar from outside the box with nine minutes left as Forest suffered their first defeat in ten League matches.

Veteran keeper Dave Beasant celebrated his third home clean sheet in a row against one of his former clubs behind a rock solid defence in which Icelander Ivar Ingimarsson was outstanding.

The Seagulls' fifth win in seven puts them in great heart for Tuesday's trip to FA Cup semi-finalists Sheffield United.

They have a two-point cushion outside the relegation zone after Sheffield United held Stoke to a 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium.

Grimsby are level on points with Stoke, two adrift of the Seagulls, following a 1-0 home win over Watford.

Sheffield Wednesday have swapped places with Grimsby at the bottom after losing 1-0 at home to Ipswich.

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