ALBION'S fading play-off hopes and disgraceful disciplinary record both suffered further knocks.

Costly individual errors were compounded by a moment of madness from Jamie Moralee in the Glanford Park mud.

Aminute remained when the Seagulls, still seeking an equaliser, introduced the out-of-favour striker in place of sweeper Ian Culverhouse.

Striker indeed. Within a minute and without touching the ball Moralee's frustration at being reduced to a permanent substitute boiled over as he rashly lashed out at John Eyre.

He did not actually connect, but the intent was obvious and the resulting red card inevitable.

As if to add to Moralee's misery, Eyre raced away from ten-man Albion deep into stoppage time to complete his hat-trick and give the result a flattering look.

The Seagulls enjoyed plenty of possession on a heavy pitch which required two brief inspections from referee Mike Jones before he passed it fit.

But they lacked penetration and were undone, just for a change, by a couple of defensive blunders.

Ross Johnson and Gary Hobson both hesitated fatally when Eyre lobbed Scunthorpe into an early lead.

Kerry Mayo presented Leyton Orient with a penalty last week. Paul Sturgess was the reckless culprit this time in a carbon copy incident.

His challenge on Justin Walker was ill-timed in more ways than one. It gave Eyre the chance to double the deficit from the spot and came only two minutes before the break, while Albion were reorganising after the loss of Johnson with a back injury.

Johnson's replacement Paul Armstrong and the Seagulls' other substitute Darragh Ryan made much more positive contributions than Moralee.

Ryan had fond memories of Scunthorpe, having come on to score on his away debut in the same fixture last season.

The young Irishman, making his first away appearance since then after 14 months out with a broken leg, had only been on for nine minutes in place of the ineffective Lawrence Davies when he halved the arrears with an instinctive volley from a Kevin Nicholls free-kick.

Hope floundered on Scunthorpe's sturdy skipper of that name and the durable central defenders alongside him, Tony Witter and Richard Logan.

They were sure-footed and resolute where Albion were error-prone, which summed up the difference between the sides.

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