The curse of the manager of the month award has struck again as Albion's play-off hopes fade.

Micky Adams won't agree, but consider the evidence. Five victories and a draw clinched the March prize for Albion's manager. Since collecting his bottle of bubbly at the Grand Hotel the Seagulls have been held to a hat-trick of stalemates.

Admittedly two of those matches have been at home to the top two, so it hardly represents a slump in form. The six points dropped in April, however, is the difference between Albion being on the brink of a play-off place and where they are now, on the brink of the chasing pack.

Results elsewhere went horribly wrong. Macclesfield, Rochdale, Plymouth, Hartlepool, Hartlepool, Barnet and Peterborough all won. Contrast this with the impact of a fourth draw on the trot for Rotherham.

It actually doubled their lead at the head of affairs, because Swansea and Darlington both lost. All of which emphasised how important a win was to Adams' men and how cruel football can be sometimes.

They were more than a match for the leaders in treacherous conditions. If any team deserved the points it was Albion, although the result was probably a fair return for Rotherham's resilience.

Heavy rain had left the Withdean pitch in a bit of a mess. Referee Paul Danson decided it was playable and an army of volunteers helped brush away large patches of surface water.

Their efforts looked like being rewarded when Paul Watson's expertise from set pieces gave Albion a deserved advantage midway through the first half.

He curled a delightful free-kick into the roof of the net with that trusty left peg of his from 20 yards. Mike Pollitt got a hand to it but couldn't keep out Watson's fifth of the season.

The lead lasted just eight minutes, Rotherham levelling in almost identical fashion. It came from a free-kick from the same sort of position. The difference was the trajectory of the shot, Steve Thompson's low drive beating Mark Walton into the bottom corner after he exchanged short passes with his skipper Kevin Watson.

Danson was a notable omission when Adams congratulated all and sundry for their efforts afterwards. He felt the free-kick awarded against Martin Ling for a challenge on Danny Hudson was harsh and he was also unhappy with the defensive wall.

"It certainly didn't look a free-kick from where I sat and I was disappointed with the wall," Adams said. "If the ball moves they have got to move with it. I think Harty (Gary Hart) broke and I believe it went through the wall."

Adams made one widely anticipated change to his starting line-up, giving Ling his first start at the expense of Scott Ramsay. Darren Freeman rejoined Hart up front and the best two chances fell to them at either end of the match.

Pollitt was smartly off his line early on to block Freeman's shot for a corner when Paul Brooker put him clean through. The keeper then plunged on Hart's free header from a cross by substitute Warren Aspinall in the closing stages.

Freeman had a running battle with Guy Branston until Rod Thomas replaced him late on. Branston did his best to get himself sent-off. In the space of five mad minutes he was booked for a tackle from behind on Freeman, lectured along with Albion's leading marksman and gave away the free-kick from which Watson scored.

With parity restored, Rotherham were quite content to sit behind the ball in the second half. They defended comfortably and Albion did not look like breaking through until Adams made the first of three changes in the space of 15 minutes, introducing Ramsay to form a three-man attack at the expense of Brooker.

Aspinall impressed again in the limited time he was given. His late shot flew narrowly wide after Ramsay dragged an effort from a difficult angle past the far post.

Adams said: "Both sets of defenders were on top, but we made more chances than they did. We worked hard as a team and individuals and I've got no complaints. The players wore their shirts with pride. They didn't duck and hide."

Rotherham manager Ronnie Moore admitted: "The pitch played better than I thought it would. It looked awful to start with and we are happy with a point. It's probably blown Brighton's play-off chances, but one more win should see us up."

Consecutive 1-1 draws at home to the top two is good, just not quite good enough though for Albion in the circumstances.