Earlier in the day the Whitehall offices of deputy Prime Minister John Prescott were bombarded with flowers as part of the campaign for Falmer.

Unfortunately, there is still no sign of Albion's away form blossoming again.

A comprehensive defeat by an adventurous Luton was compounded by a controversial red card for 20-goal Leon Knight for bookings in each half.

Forget those flowers, this was more a case of blooming agony for Mark McGhee's side.

Luton are now right on their heels in the claustrophobic fight for a play-off place and Albion's challenge is being undermined by their struggles away from Withdean.

Since the impressive victory at Rushden and Diamonds at the end of September they have won one, drawn two and lost eight away matches in all competitions.

The solitary victory came at Notts County, who are next-to-bottom, and the only point from the last 15 on the Seagulls' travels at rock-bottom Wycombe last Saturday.

Statistics can lie but not in this case. Albion's modest haul of 13 away points is comfortably the lowest of any of the sides in the top six.

Kevin Nicholls, Luton's club captain and a former Albion loan signing during the ill-fated reign of Jeff Wood, described the match in his programme notes as "perhaps the biggest of our season so far".

His view was understandable as, at the start of play, Albion had an advantage of four points and four places over their hosts from two matches more.

Nathan Jones, available again after a four match ban, started on the bench against one of his old clubs but he did not have long to wait to get on. Paul Watson, unusually injury-ravaged this season, lasted only nine minutes before Jones took his place on the left side of midfield.

Danny Cullip, making the 250th League appearance of his career, and partner Guy Butters his 400th, faced an unconventional challenge.

Enoch Showunmi, Luton's new centre forward hero, presented the pair with an awkward and unpredictable test.

The 6ft 4in Showunmi, fresh from his first League goal against Colchester last Saturday, served warning of his influence on the first half with a turn and shot just wide.

Luton were the livelier of the two sides in the opening quarter of the contest, Peter Holmes having another header safely held by Stuart Jones on his debut for the Seagulls from a Robinson corner.

The thin dividing line between success and failure was demonstrated in a matter of moments when referee Trevor Parkes gave Albion cause for complaint.

Nicholls appeared to block Adam Virgo from a Richard Carpenter corner. No penalty was forthcoming and Luton went straight up the other end to score.

The Albion defence was spreadeagled when Showunmi crossed from the right flank for leftsided midfielder Holmes to thump his second goal of the season into the roof of the net.

Albion's angst at Parkes intensified when Knight, expecting a penalty for a tackle by Sol Davis inside the box, was booked instead for diving.

Stuart Jones, deputising for the injured Ben Roberts, kept Albion in touch shortly before half time, acrobatically pushing over Chris Coyne's downward header from another Robinson corner.

Albion's half time deficit was the same as on their previous visit to Kenilworth Road back in September 1982. They lost 5-0 on that occasion with Brian Stein, now the Luton coach, scoring a hat-trick.

The teams were in the top flight then. How times change, although Albion's away form was even worse back then. It was their tenth straight defeat on the road.

Albion never looked like collapsing in the second half in the way Mike Bailey's side had 22 years earlier but there was little evidence of a recovery either.

It was an unhappy return for Nathan Jones. The sub found himself subbed 18 minutes into the second half, McGhee bringing on Chris McPhee in search of some much needed attacking thrust.

The Seagulls' hopes of salvaging something evaporated in the space of four minutes. Knight, uncommonly quiet again, received his marching orders, a late challenge on Davis on the edge of the Luton box earning the crestfallen marksman a second yellow card. Luton quickly made their numerical supremacy count to put the game beyond Albion's reach.

The ubiquitous Showunmi was brought down by Cullip. Despite the captain's protestations, referee Parks pointed straight to the spot and Nicholls buried the penalty into the bottom right hand corner.

It completed a miserable night for Albion's 1,000 travelling fans.

Luton will probably feel the scales of justice have been balanced. Howard was sent off for swearing at a linesman and so was manager Mike Newell for encroaching outside the technical area when they lost by the same score at Withdean in August.

Albion only have to wait until Saturday for the opportunity to secure that elusive next away win at managerless Grimsby.

  • ALBION (4-3-3): S. Jones (gk) 7; Watson (lm) 6, Mayo (lb) 6, Cullip (cd) 7, Knight (f) 6, Hart (f) 6, Oatway (rm) 7, Carpenter (cm) 7, Butters (cd) 7, Benjamin (f) 6, Virgo (rb) 6. Subs: N. Jones for Watson (injured 9), McPhee for Jones (withdrawn 63), El-Abd, Keeley, Robinson for Hart (withdrawn 87).
  • Bookings: Virgo (56, foul); Butters (65, foul).
  • Sent off: Knight (37, diving and 73, foul).
  • LUTON (4-4-2): Hyldgaard; Spring, Nicholls, Robinson, Coyne, Showunmi, Boyce, Howard, Davis, Holmes, Foley. Subs: Brkovic for Holmes (withdrawn 90), Davies, Brill, Crowe for Showunmi (withdrawn 85), Leary for Nicholls (withdrawn 89).
  • Bookings: Davis (31, foul); Nicholls (53, foul).
  • Scorers: Holmes (27); Nicholls (77, pen).
  • Half-Time: Luton 1 Albion 0.
  • Attendance: 6,826.
  • Fans' Views: JILL COOPER (Portslade) That was possibly the worst refereeing performance I've ever seen. The bloke didn't give three blatant penalties - two for us - but gave them one for a dive. Leon's first booking was clearly wrong, but I'm afraid his reputation has gone before him again.

BRIAN COX (Crawley) We weren't very good but we deserved a draw and would have got it but for the referee. We definitely need freshening up going forward so it may be time for McPhee and Robinson to get another chance. Butters was probably our best player, but Mayo and Oatway were poor.

DAVID MARTIN (Reading) The incompetence of the referee shouldn't distract too much from the fact that we were very poor again. We've created hardly anything in the last two games which have confirmed to me that we simply aren't good enough. Knight's sending off was ridiculous.

JON STEADMAN (Luton fan, Bedford) The referee was a joke but I didn't think much of Brighton. If that was a team looking for a play-off place then it can't be a very good division. I hope Brighton get their ground because a city like that should have a decent stadium.