Albion's miserable start to the season took another grim turn after an embarrassing exit from the Carling Cup.

A home defeat by League Two opponents is bad enough without Mark McGhee having to sweat over the fitness of Leon Knight for Saturday's visit by Preston.

An evening which began so well, with a goal for Guy Butters and the Seagulls firmly in charge, ended with anxiety over Knight after strikes by Lee Thorpe and Richard Walker earned resilient Rovers a surprise passage through to round two of the Carling Cup.

Knight, having received treatment to the side of the Rovers goal, had to be helped off long after both teams disappeared down the tunnel.

McGhee, bemoaning the lack of a target man to help Knight and Maheta Molango, must also be sick of the sight of Rovers manager Ian Atkins.

He was in charge of Oxford United when they knocked out McGhee's Millwall in another shock at the New Den at the same stage in last season's competition.

The Atkins footballing diet is not for the purists. His teams tend to be based on defensive and physical strength.

He had the temerity last night to field a second choice strike force, an indication perhaps of the contrasting confidence levels of sides divided by two divisions.

McGhee selected the strongest line-up available to him, given the long list of injured senior pros, the more attack-minded Albert Jarrett replacing Kerry Mayo on the left.

With nine goals conceded in four games and one scored in the last three in the Coca-Cola Championship, the Seagulls' form entering the contest compared unfavourably with that of Rovers.

They arrived unbeaten with no goals against away from home.

Atkins was afforded the luxury of leaving the goal-a-game Junior Agogo on the bench with his partner Jamie Forrester, as Thorpe and Walker made their first starts of the season.

Albion set about their task with impressive authority straight from the kick-off.

One early move, stretching the length of the field, was indicative of their bright start.

It began with a throw from Michel Kuipers out to Adam Virgo. Molango and Darren Currie were also involved in the move before Virgo, continuing his run, crossed for Knight to attempt a spectacular overhead kick which flashed narrowly wide.

The Seagulls' initial superiority was confirmed on the scoresheet with the simplest of goals in the 11th minute.

Currie's inswinging corner was back-headed in from close range by Butters, his first of the season.

It must have infuriated Atkins to concede in such soft fashion from a set piece but it was exactly the fillip Albion would have wished for.

They continued to control proceedings, with Currie and Jarrett seeing plenty of the ball on the flanks and Knight and Molango finding room to worry the Rovers rearguard.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan until the visitors equalised completely out of the blue in the 25th minute.

Thorpe, picking up possession just inside the Albion box, ghosted past Butters to guide a precise shot past Kuipers, wrecking the Dutchman's hopes of a first clean sheet of the season against his old club.

Albion were still recovering from the shock of relinquishing the lead after being so much on top when they fell behind five minutes later.

Kuipers made a brilliant one-handed stop from Paul Trollope's downward header, only for Ali Gibb's low cross to then be turned in by Walker.

There was an air of disbelief among the Albion players at such an improbable turn around.

Their exasperation was emphasised by a booking for Virgo for a crude late tackle on Stuart Campbell as the former Grimsby midfielder crossed, which was spotted by the linesman rather than the referee.

The Seagulls spent the rest of the half on the back foot and could even have gone in two goals down, Gibb driving just wide for the rejuvenated visitors from long range.

Rovers were clearly scenting an upset and Kuipers had to come to Albion's rescue early in the second half.

He was partially unsighted when he parried Walker's well struck volley from 18 yards through a ruck of players.

Jarrett has the capability to change the course of a match. He almost brought Albion level with a rasping angled drive wide of the far post.

Kevin Miller, Rovers' captain and goalkeeper, was determined for revenge having lost to Albion in the Carling Cup in the last two seasons, with the Pirates and before that Exeter.

He kept out a diving header from Knight from another probing cross by Currie with his feet and Molango blazed the rebound wide.

Albion pressed forward relentlessly in the closing stages in search of salvation. Knight had strong appeals for a penalty waved away when he appeared to be impeded by Christian Edwards.

Currie had a low drive saved by Miller and when the keeper foiled Knight with his feet once more the game was up in more ways that one.

McGhee said: "For 20 minutes we looked like a Championship side against a team from a lower division but we conspired to lose two goals against the run of play which was ludicrous.

"In the rest of the first half we lost an awful lot of self belief and confidence.

"In the second half we got back to playing and getting it wide and if we had had a centre forward of any stature up with Leon and Maheta we would not have found it so difficult."

It will be of little consolation to Albion that they were not the only victims of an upset.

Wigan, Derby, Plymouth and Gillingham also went out to League Two opposition.

  • ALBION (4-4-2): Kuipers (7); Virgo (6), Cullip (6), Butters (6), Harding (6); Currie (8), Nicolas (6), Hinshelwood (6), Jarrett (7); Knight (7), Molango (6). Subs: Mayo, Hart, Jones for Jarrett (withdrawn 84), Robinson for Molango (withdrawn 66), May
  • Scorer: Butters 11
  • Bookings: Virgo (42) foul, Molango (49) foul
  • BRISTOL ROVERS: (4-4-2): Miller; Hinton, Edwards, Elliott, Ryan; Gibb, Hunt, Campbell, Trollope; Thorpe, Walker. Subs: Agogo for Walker (withdrawn 71), Forrester, Savage for Thorpe (withdrawn 87), Disley, Anderson
  • Scorers: Thorpe 25, Walker 30
  • Bookings: Thorpe (22) foul, Ryan (51) foul
  • Half-Time: Albion 1 Bristol Rovers 2
  • Attendance: 4,217,
  • Fans' View ASH EDWARDS (Portslade) For McGhee to blame it on the lack of a centre forward is missing the point. The second half was the same old story with our midfield completely unable to break down a defence. We will keep the faith but it's being sorely tested.

SUE SMITH (Hove) Harding was one of the poorest players on the night but only he, Cullip, Knight and Robinson are good enough for the Championship. Everything will be hunky-dory if we can find seven more to play with them. Molango hasn't done much since the 12th second at Reading.

ROBERT JAMES (Horsham) We totally dominated the first 20 or 25 minutes, with Currie putting in cross after cross, and it was just a question of how many we would score. Then Rovers scored the first two times they got over the halfway line and we disintegrated.

DAVE JACOBS (Rovers fan) It looked like a Championship side against a League Two side for the first 25 minutes but our first goal gave us a lot of confidence and we built from there. Obviously we're delighted to turn them over, but Brighton look very poor by the standards of their division.