Mark McGhee's 50th match in charge of Albion was marred by a strange refereeing performance.

It would be going too far to suggest Trevor Parkes cost the Seagulls the game but he certainly contributed to their first away defeat for almost two months.

Parkes incensed McGhee, his players and the travelling fans with a couple of crucial decisions.

The official from Birmingham took only nine minutes to launch Crewe towards a third straight victory when he penalised Paul Reid for a challenge on Northern Ireland striker Steve Jones inside the D of Albion's penalty area.

It looked harsh. Jones appeared to simply run across the path of the Australian, filling in at rightback for the second game running.

It came as no surprise when Kenny Lunt, Crewe's long-serving captain, curled the free-kick past Albion's five-man wall and the left hand of the diving Michel Kuipers.

As McGhee put it: "If Darren Currie had been taking that for us from there, we would have fancied him to score."

Parkes compounded that dubious verdict with his part in the incident surrounding Crewe's clincher midway through the second half.

Albion were 2-0 down but not without hope when Lunt lifted another free-kick on to the head of the unmarked Justin Cochrane.

His angled header forced Michel Kuipers into a flying save but, when the ball found its way back to Cochrane standing just off the pitch close to the post, he squared for substitute Michael Higdon to slot in from close range.

Several of McGhee's players, convinced the ball was out of play when Cochrane crossed, rushed over to the linesman to protest. Parkes only consulted him after a considerable delay, by which time there was no way he was going to disallow it. The Crewe players were already back inside their own half, ready for the re-start.

Reid felt hard done by about the free-kick. "I honestly thought it was very dubious," he said. "I let the ball go for Michel and the guy (Jones) just ran into me.

"I would like to see it on the video. I am 95 per cent sure it wasn't a free-kick."

Reid was similarly aggrieved by Crewe's third goal. "I didn't have a great view of it but I thought I saw it go out," he said. "The guy has come off the pitch and then crossed the ball, so to me he must be offside as well.

"I guess you do feel hard done by. The second goal we conceded was a bit sloppy but the first and third to me shouldn't have been allowed. That's part and parcel of the game, hopefully we will get the rub of the green in other games this season."

The strangest decision of all by Parkes had nothing to do with any of the goals. He awarded a harsh free-kick against the hard-working Adam Virgo for a supposed dive and yet did not book him. Just as well, as it would have been Virgo's fifth caution, which would have ruled him out of Saturday's home game against Leeds.

The result was not all down to Parkes. Albion's makeshift defence, missing the stabilising experience of Danny Cullip and Guy Butters, looked ill at ease in the opening 45 minutes against the lively movement of Jones.

He created Crewe's second goal in the 33rd minute by chasing a long ball and striking a shot from the edge of the box which rebounded into the path of his partner Andy White.

The former Mansfield giant, deputising for injured top scorer Dean Ashton, reacted quickest to fire home his first goal for Dario Gradi's side.

Kuipers, who McGhee revealed had been doubtful during the week with a back injury, also twice made fine saves to foil Jones in the first half and keep Albion in touch.

They played much better after the break, rediscovering some of the fluency interrupted by a fortnight without a fixture because of the international programme.

They were belatedly rewarded with substitute Albert Jarrett's first goal for the club 11 minutes from time, a gift provided by Billy Jones.

The 17-year-old defender's stray backpass put Jarrett, on in place of Dean Hammond, clean through.

Leon Knight had already been replaced by then by Jake Robinson. Last season's leading marksman, who has not scored from open play since April, exchanged words with McGhee's No. 2 Bob Booker as he trudged off.

McGhee laughed it off but Knight is likely to be rebuked behind closed doors for a rather too public act of petulance.

McGhee was, Parkes apart, philosophical about the end to Albion's fine run of results on the road. "There were a lot of good things, a lot of good play but still areas we can improve on, so I have got mixed feelings," he said.

"We had people playing out of position again, Kerry Mayo a leftback at centre half, and I thought he and Hinshelwood did fine. I also thought Paul Reid had an excellent game at rightback again, so we are not doing too badly.

"We have another game tomorrow night and we will try to bounce back."

Wins for Cardiff and Nottingham Forest has closed things up at the foot of the table, although Cardiff's victory leaves Rotherham already looking stranded.

Crewe, meanwhile, have gone above Albion on goal difference following a repeat of the result on the Seagulls' previous visit to Gresty Road nine years ago.

Robbie Savage and Danny Murphy were on target that night. There were plenty of young prospects on view for both sides on Saturday who could also eventually find themselves in exalted company.

  • ALBION (4-4-2): Kuipers 8; Reid 7, Hinshelwood 6, Mayo 7, Harding 6; Hammond 6, Oatway 6, Nicolas 7, Currie 6; Knight 6, Virgo 7. Subs: Jarrett 6 for Hammond (withdrawn 56), Robinson 6 for Knight (withdrawn 62), Carpenter for Oatway (withdrawn 74), El-Abd, May
  • Bookings: Mayo (68) foul, Oatway (72) dissent
  • Scorer: Jarrett (79)
  • CREWE (4-4-2): Williams; Otsemobor, Jones, Foster, Tonkin; Lunt, Sorvel, Cochrane, Vaughan; White, Jones. Subs: Higdon for White (withdrawn 62), Rivers for Lunt (injured 86), Roberts for Higdon (injured 90), Ince, Walker
  • Booking: Lunt (76) foul
  • Scorers: Lunt (9), White (33), Higdon (69)
  • Half-Time: Crewe 2 Albion 0
  • Attendance: 6,811 (965 Albion)
  • Fans' view: MARTYN GARDINER (Brighton) Leon Knight has got to stop throwing his toys out of the pram and realise he is not Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen. It's not the first time he has shown obvious dissent at being substituted. McGhee should spare him that problem by dropping him to the bench on Tuesday.

CLAIRE HILL (Worthing) A disappointing result but our away run had to end some time. It didn't help that the officials made a string of appalling decisions against us, including the free-kick for the first goal and failing to spot a ball miles out of play. Let's hope for better luck against Cardiff.

TONY BRYAN (Portslade) It was just one of those days when nothing much seemed to go right. Crewe weren't much better than us, if at all, but they scored with a high proportion of their efforts at goal. The referee was atrocious and I understand it's the same guy who messed us up at Luton last season.

MARK ROBSON (Hove) Alexis Nicolas was clearly our best player and looks a tremendous coup for McGhee. I do feel a bit sorry for Leon Knight because nothing's going for him at the moment. But perhaps it is time for Leon to move on.