Brighton 1-1 Blackburn

Albion were held to a draw at home by Blackburn on another night where the hosts' dominant passing football was spoilt by a failure to take chances.

After a host of missed opportunities early, the Seagulls were sucker-punched by a Scott Dann header on 24 minutes, before Vicente, masterful as ever on his first home start of the season, equalised from the spot after the break to at least earn Poyet's men a share of the spoils.

Chasing a potential top six spot at the start of the evening, the Seagulls began with real purpose - Leo Ulloa going close as he met Vicente's corner with a swivelling volley that just evaded the post. Vicente then tried his luck with a 25-yard strike that again fell just wide of Jake Kean's post.

Moments later, Will Buckley broke the offside trap with just Kean to beat, but the winger's dinked effort was eventually clawed off the line by the scampering Rovers stopper. DJ Campbell steered a volley wide down the other end as the visitors looked to play very much on the counter-attack.

Dean Hammond's rasper from the edge of the area was parried by Kean, with Buckley thwarted by the Rovers defence before he could stick away the rebound. But for all the hosts' pressure, it would be Appleton's side that would somehow break the deadlock.

Danny Murphy's out-swinging corner was guided home by the head of Dann, who'd managed to shrug free of his marker on the 6-yard line. Albion were momentarily rattled as DJ Campbell looked to add a second soon after, but his looping header was watched over by Tomasz Kuszczak.

Will Hoskins was forced off with a serious looking injury after colliding with Kean, and had to be replaced by Andrea Orlandi. Hands were in heads just before half-time when Hammond's header was somehow beaten away by Kean from point-blank range.

Fired up after the interval to rid of the sense of injustice, Albion finally got the break they were after as they were awarded a penalty on 57 minutes. Vicente's cross was adjudged to have struck the arm of Markus Olsson - and the Spaniard stepped up to stroke a composed spot-kick into the top corner and spark a potential turnaround.

This seemed to unsettle the visitors further, as their already physical approach turned ugly as a host of yellow cards were dished out for continual late challenges. Ulloa looked to counteract the game's sudden scrappy nature with a touch of class but his exquisit back-heel flick was comfortably saved by Kean.

Kazenga LuaLua came on for the departing Buckley as Albion continued to search for a winner, and the Congolese couldn't have come closer when his trademark pile-driver from outside the area just crept round Kean's left hand post.

But it wasn't to be for the Albion as they were forced to settle for a point, keeping fellow play-off contenders Blackburn below them. Although Middlesbrough's late win over Leeds meant the gap from the top six increased to 4 points.

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