It is six years this weekend since Albion were reduced to nine men inside 12 minutes against Burnley.

And Alan Navarro still remembers that tempestuous afternoon at the Amex vividly.

Gus Poyet’s men had Romain Vincelot and Ashley Barnes, now a favourite at Turf Moor, shown straight reds.

Poyet made a double tactical change after 20 minutes.

He sent on Navarro for playmaker Ryan Harley and Craig Noone for Kazenga LuaLua - and let Burnley have the ball.

They were unable to play their way through but grabbed the points thanks to Kieran Trippier’s shot from outside the box.

The hosts should have grabbed a point in added time when Navarro’s pinpoint pass sent Craig Mackail-Smith clean through.

Navarro said: “Gus sent me and Nooney on and said we were going to a back three, a midfield four and one up front.

“We were going to see the game out and not let the score get silly.

“It was tough. Whenever we won the ball back, it was so hard to find someone to give it to.

“You did all that defending, concentrating, chasing, and it was hard then to play football yourselves. But it worked. They were arguing among themselves.

“They couldn’t play through us and we had that unbelievable chance right at the end.”

Mackail-Smith was denied by keeper Lee Grant and saw his follow-up cleared off the line by David Edgar.

With the Amex not yet complete, the attendance was small by today’s standards at 19,641 but the atmosphere has gone into folklore.

Noone had been in the spotlight before the game when a video of him singing Peter Andre’s Mysterious Girl was shown on the big screens.

The mood soured dramatically after 3pm and, to add to the anger, Albion were refused a penalty when Noone was fouled by Michael Duff.

Adam El-Abd had a gruelling afternoon on the right of defence in his first appearance for eight months after injury.

He was called in because on-loan Gonzalo Jara Reyes had been arrested for driving while disqualified and was in police custody.

It was a strange afternoon all round, the sixth anniversary of which actually comes tomorrow.

Although the officials were sure about what they had seen, they became very confused when Poyet decided he had seen enough and went off towards the tunnel.

After some debate, the fourth official was dispatched to bring him back to the technical area.

The arguments about the red cards centred on whether Burnley players should have gone too.

Vincelot was dismissed after Marvin Bartley’s swinging arm caught him in the face.

And Barnes was victim of a two-footed challenge from Chris McCann before the pair clashed.

Home fans initially cheered when the red card was brandished before realising the home man had been sent-off rather than McCann.

Navarro said: “We only conceded the one goal to a long range shot.

“It was a great strike. I remember if flying right past me. When it left his foot I knew it was flying in.

“I’m delighted to see Brighton doing well and also the three ex-Brighton strikers at Burnley – Chris Wood, Sam Vokes and Barnesy.

“But Barnesy was the one I was closest to at Brighton.”