Albion made a quick and dramatic return to the top of the Championship – thanks to a storming comeback at the Amex.

The Seagulls were 2-0 down after five minutes but surged back to beat Charlton 3-2.

James Wilson, Bobby Zamora and Tomer Hemed struck to help their side leapfrog Middlesbrough, who briefly went top by winning at Ipswich last night.

There were also three superb first-half saves by David Stockdale which made the recovery possible.

The Addicks had defender Patrick Bauer sent-off when they led 2-1.

The Argus:

Patrick Bauer brings down the clean-through Bobby Zamora

The Argus:

Zamora fires in the equaliser

Ademola Lookman flashed a shot past Stockdale from a tight angle in only the second minute.

The lively teenager was also involved as Reza Ghoochannejhad added a second at the far post three minutes later.

Stockdale kept his out-of-sorts side just about in the contest with stops from Lookman and Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

But Albion came back into the game five minutes after the restart when Wilson ran at the heart of the defence and rolled his shot under Stephen Henderson’s dive.

Bauer was dismissed in the 58th minute for bringing down Zamora on the edge of the box.

Albion piled players forward and Solly March saw his drive fingertipped on to the post.

The Argus:

David Stockdale makes a crucial save at 2-0

But they had to wait until the 83rd minute – when they were seeming to run out of ideas - until they levelled.

March got to the byline, drilled in a low cross and a scramble eventually led to Zamora firing home.

Then Hemed, who had gone on as sub, powered in a header to which Henderson got a strong touch, only for the ball to loop gently into the net.