Cardiff 1, Albion 1: Micky Adams shared the honours with his mate Alan Cork in more ways than one at the weekend.

The result was a draw and so too was the tactical tussle between the managerial chums.

Adams confessed that Cork "picked a side which I didn't expect to see."

His former Albion assistant reacted to a mini-crisis with two changes, including the recall of the pint-sized Paul Brayson up front in place of Leo Fortune-West.

Brayson responded with an equaliser ten minutes from time to avert a potentially fatal second home defeat in a row for Cork and fourth in five games overall.

Adams, meanwhile, continued his new policy this season of changing a successful side to take account of the opposition. Charlie Oatway, having recovered from the groin strain which kept him out of the 1-1 draw at Wycombe, was brought back for the clash against one of his old clubs at the expense of Lee Steele.

He proved to be a key figure by carrying out an accomplished man marking job on Cardiff's £1 million midfield playmaker Graham Kavanagh.

The silver-booted Kavanagh became so frustrated that he was booked early in the second half for a rash tackle on Oatway before limping off with a groin injury.

Adams made no attempt to disguise his intentions. "We came to frustrate rather than do anything silly," he said. "We had a specific game plan and stuck to the task.

"I decided to play five in midfield, or three up front depending on how you want to look at it."

There was not much joy for the wide men, Nathan Jones and Gary Hart, so Bobby Zamora returned to the task he had for most of last season of ploughing a lone furrow up front.

He carried it out superbly, running his socks off and always doing enough to keep the Cardiff defence on their toes. His reward was a crazy eighth goal in 13 games this season, courtesy of an inadvertent assist from Rhys Weston.

A diagonal cross from the outstanding Danny Cullip into the Cardiff penalty area from close to the halfway line should have been straightforward for the former Arsenal fullback.

With no Albion player near him and under no pressure, Weston inexplicably headed past his advancing keeper Neil Alexander towards an empty net.

Alexander dashed back in a bid to claw the ball away with his left hand. Whether he managed to do so before it crossed the line was rendered irrelevant as Zamora swooped to slot home right-footed from close range.

It was Zamora's third goal in as many away games to go with the pair he bagged also in Wales against Wrexham. Who says he cannot score outside of Withdean?

"Bobby is slowly burying that jinx," said Adams. "He worked extremely hard and I thought he had an excellent game considering he was playing against Prior and Gabbidon, who are a good partnership."

The goal was undeniably against the run of play. Cardiff dominated the first half, but Michel Kuipers was in confident form yet again.

Downward headers by Prior and Peter Thorne, a record £1.8 million buy from Stoke, were kept out in agile fashion by the big Dutchman.

Kuipers even had the audacity to chip over the onrushing Thorne before clearing when a misplaced pass by Kerry Mayo put him in a tight situation close to the corner flag. They turned out to be the only serious saves he had to make, which was tribute to the back four and another awesome performance by Cullip in particular.

His head or body invariably got in the way, while Simon Morgan was as solid as ever alongside him.

Although Cardiff had a lot of possession in the second half as well, they didn't look like scoring.

Boos reverberated around Ninian Park when crosses by Weston and Kavanagh's replacement Jason Bowen sailed over the bar, but the jeers turned to cheers just when the Seagulls seemed to have done enough.

Bowen's unchallenged header from a left-wing cross by fellow sub Andy Legg struck a post and Brayson pounced to convert the rebound.

"I'm just disappointed somebody had a free header," Adams said. "We were defending, but I cannot remember them creating many chances in the second half. I am pleased with a draw. Both teams didn't create enough to win the game."

A point was not enough to keep the wolves from Cork's door. Ironic rumours were circulating soon after the final whistle that Dave Bassett, another of Adams' close friends, is being lined up to replace him.

"He (Cork) is the right man for the job," Adams insisted. "People have got to remember footballers are only human beings. When they change clubs it takes time to settle down and there has been a huge turnover of players.

"Cardiff are going to be there or thereabouts that's for sure. The beauty of Sam (Hammam) is that around about Christmas or January if a position needs filling again I am sure he will open his cheque book.

"I don't have that luxury. Give me £8 million and I would put my head on the block now and state I would get Brighton promoted out of the Second Division. We are what we are on our shirts, Skint! That is apt for us, but we get by. We, and I include Alan in this, assembled a set of players last season that we hoped would do well in the Second Division and so far we are happy.

"We don't pretend to be anything different. We are just an honest and hard-working group."

Adams is far too modest. To enter October separated from top spot only by goal difference really is quite an achievement.