While the Palace Pier blazed away on Tuesday night and the emergency services occupied the seafront, tempers were blazing away nearly as furiously at the Withdean.

We witnessed one of the most atrocious attempts to referee a game that we have seen this season. An attempt of such atrocity and incompetence that fans were driven to chant: "We Want Prosser Back!"

If the Albion were not in such a precarious position at the moment, what we witnessed could be described as laughable, albeit in the slapstick comedy sense of the word. It was certainly ludicrous and the team and fans deserved a great deal better.

Because Tuesday night promised so much more at the outset, with a cold clear night of the sort that makes for a perfect winter evening at the footy and an opposition already unsettled by fitness problems and lack of support.

After Paul Brooker's cracking third-minute goal all the optimism and "feel-good" factor seemed justified. Until the referee decided that we'd had quite enough fun for one night, that is.

Mr Ross had clearly read the rule book. But not necessarily the football rule book, it transpired.

I am inclined to think that Jonathan, rather than Joe, Ross could have made a better job of things. The entire game consisted of bizarre decisions, constant interruptions and inconsistency.

While Wimbledon did not play a pretty game, barging, hacking out at, or bear-hugging whichever Albion player got in their way, they were obviously wearing Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisibility as far as the ref was concerned.

Our lads, on the other hand were, in Mr Ross's eyes, working a completely different sort of magic.

The sort that did not involve physical contact but, presumably by some sort of thought transference, caused their opponents to fall over their own feet and promptly get a penalty awarded.

Dave Beasant's saving of which was all the sweeter because of the injustice of the decision and I have to say that, despite being impressed by Ben Roberts, I felt a great deal more confident about Beasant's experienced hands making the save.

Gary Hart's sending off was another result of "thought transference" and while he would have been better not to raise his hands at all, despite his frustration at being brought down in the way he had, red-carding him for "violent conduct" was completely out of order.

An injustice made all the worse because Wimbledon appeared to have been given the go-ahead to behave as they chose without being similarly penalised.

In fairness, you cannot argue with the end result and Wimbledon's goals were well taken but you can argue, in my opinion, with the effect that bad refereeing has on the team that is taking the brunt of it.

There is no doubt that the Albion dominated the first half, setting the sort of pace that made the Dons struggle to keep up. But the rot set in after Gary Hart's dismissal even though the commitment was there and Nathan Jones, in particular, looked ready to run his legs off.

But once down to ten men, the irrational refereeing decisions started coming in thick and fast and eventually the team looked as if they were playing on eggshells.

It could not have been the best of games for Graham Barrett either, playing for just 20 minutes, under the watchful eye of the Republic of Ireland assistant coach Chris Hughton, who witnessed Barrett's fellow Irish hopeful David Connolly score twice.

You rarely see a real-life example of a metaphor but it was a close run thing on Tuesday when Mr Ross managed to move everything you have ever known about football, except the goalposts.

Roz South edits Brighton Rockz fanzine. Email roz@southspark.co.uk