Ashley Barnes struck from the penalty spot as Albion beat Gillingham 1-0 in the Carling Cup this evening.

Barnes calmly converted in the 67th minute after Andy Frampton had brought down Saturday's two-goal hero Will Buckley.

It was a hard fought tussle in which ten players, including seven Gills, were booked but the hosts deserved to go through in front of a crowd of 16,295.

Albion had a major let-off in only the third minute when Gordon Greer cleared off the line from Danny Kedwell after a stray pass from Gary Dicker put the hosts in trouble.

The Seagulls were generally in charge after that with Buckley, high on confidence after his two-goal show against Doncaster, always a threat.

But they struggled to get on anything on target to test keeper Ross Flitney, although Barnes' curler was not too far wide on 35 minutes.

Gills offered another scare just three minutes later when Kedwell got above Greer to head on to the roof of the net.

For all Albion's promise, they did not stretch Flitney until three minutes after the break, when he dived low to his left to hold a drive by Craig Noone, who had cut inside on a mazy run.

Ankergren was then in action at the other end as he parried a poke goalwards by Charlie Lee.

Barnes' goal in front of the North Stand soothed home nerves but there was uproar late on when Stefan Payne scythed down Romain Vincelot.

Albion players were incensed by the challenge and were convinced the Gills substitute should be sent-off.

But Payne saw only yellow and Casper Ankergren and Marcos Painter then followed him into the book for the arguments that followed.