Leeds were victims of some bizarre refereeing by Graham Scott who turned what should have been a dead-rubber end of season game into one which he took centre-stage and gave us endless talking points, however the man one should be that Brian McDermott's team deserve great credit for battling on in the face of adversity.

Leeds were dealt a blow before kickoff when newly crowned YEP player of the year Sam Byram pulled up injured during the pre-match warm up, Lee Peltier taking his place in an otherwise unchanged line-up from the side that lost to Birmingham last weekend.

Brighton typically were inform, needing just a point to confirm their place in the play-offs and having hit Blackpool for six last weekend their early play oozed confidence and class. It took ten minutes for them to carve Leeds open, Will Buckley capitalised on a weak back pass from Tom Lees to slot the ball past Kenny's left. Stephen Warnock had a strong argument that Buckley was in an offside position prior to Lees's slip waved away by the linesman and not for the first time this afternoon Leeds pleas fell on deaf ears.

It got worse two minutes later when Rudy Austin was sent off. On the receiving end of a hefty challenge from Ashley Barnes, the Jamaican dusted himself off and took the law into his own hands by brushing an arm across Barnes in an off the ball incident that earned him a straight red and a three-match ban. Barnes reaction probably hastened the red card out of Scott's top pocket as he collapsed to the ground clutching his face and embarrassingly rolled around like he had been shot.

Injustice seemed to spur Leeds on and rouse the crowd, who previously had only really shown any enthusiasm in baiting outgoing Leeds chairman Ken Bates who stumbled into his Directors Box seat for his final home game in post. Despite their disadvantage Leeds played the better football, Brighton were restricted to long range shots, Leeds had at least two shouts for penalty waved away when Varney and Diouf were felled. McCormack went agonisingly close with an overhead kick.

After the break, I felt that Brighton finally made their advantage count and a killer second was on the cards, but Kenny's first real save in anger came when he smothered Lopez's low drive.

Leeds then were level on 74, Calderon had barely been on the pitch when he pulled Diouf over in the box and Scott finally pointed to the spot. The Leeds fans cheekily chanted "off off off!" to our utter surprise the official obliged and what on any other day would have warranted a yellow became a red. Diouf stepped up and firmly drove the spot kick past Kuszcack who guessed correctly but failed to get a glove to Diouf's firm drive.

Unfortunately the man from Senegal's moment in the bright Yorkshire sunshine soon soured. There will be an argument that footballers have to endure barely legal abuse from opposition supporters without the right to reply and although those sensitive little souls from Brighton recently complained at the homophobic abuse they get on their travels, they are not shy at dishing it out themselves. Diouf had been targeted by them today and at the Amex and unfortunately he chose to celebrate in front of them by, in what one of their fans later claimed on 606, "rubbing his genitalia" so ten-man Brighton's one man advantage was kindly restored by their friend Mr Scott and his eagle eyed assistant.

Typically Gus Poyet's own action of sarcastically clapping the Leeds crowd when the penalty was given went unpunished!

Although Brighton's winner, Ulloa firmly heading home a cross from the right was a sickening blow, there was genuine appreciation for the nine-man effort. Leeds were denied an equaliser in the last minute of normal time when a Jason Pearce header was tipped onto the bar by Kuszcack and even five minutes time added on failed to give us just desserts.

So we can look on with envy as Brighton secured the play-off place we set as a bare minimum target, but there are also many plus points. Even with a man down for most of the game, we matched what many observers think are the best passing side in the division. Brian McDermott, who seemed rather gloomy during the traditional end of season lap of honour will hopefully be given a decent budget to build on a team many of us had lost faith in but have since seen that his footballing advocacy has at least given us some optimism for the future.

Photo: Action Images

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