Albion had two men sent off in the first 12 minutes as they suffered a controversial defeat at The Amex today.

Burnely nicked a 1-0 win thanks to a super strike from defender Kieran Trippier after Romain Vincelot and Ashley Barnes saw red.

The nine men dug in admirably and had a great chance to grab a famous point in added time when David Edgar cleared off the line from Craig Mackail-Smith.

It was an extraordinary afternoon and the furore really started when Vincelot was dismissed after just five minutes.

Fourth official Andrew Laver spotted the Frenchman tangling off the ball with Marvin Bartley and was seemingly encouraged by the Burnley management to inform referee Craig Pawson.

After a lengthy stoppage, Vincelot was dismissed.

Albion were outraged and home fans thought the numbers had been evened up six minutes later when Barnes and Chris McCann clashed.

However Pawson called the Albion man over and showed him red.

Albion re-rigged tactically, sending on Alan Navarro and Craig Noone for Ryan Harley and Kazenga LuaLua.

They sat back, allowed Burnley the ball and soaked up the visitors' unimaginative efforts to thread a way through.

However the Clarets went ahead with a super individual strike on 32 minutes.

A corner was played short to right-back Trippier, who fizzed a terrific strike across Casper Ankergren and inside the far post from the angle of the penalty box.

Gus Poyet saw the goal from a staircase leading to the press box. He had stormed off down the tunnel in protest at Pawson failing to punish a shove by Dean Marney on Noone, who was in full flight.

Noone also seemed to be clipped in the Burnley area by Edgar as he went on a run but penalty appeals were waved away.

Burnley still lacked the guile to make their numerical advantage pay off after the break.

Again their biggest threat came from a long range shot by a full-back as Ankergren tipped away a Ben Mee 25-yarder.

The Seagulls, roared on by their fans, might even have nicked a famous point but Mackail-Smith saw two angled volleys fly just off target and Mauricio Taricco had a low drive held by the diving Lee Grant.

Then, in added time, Navarro's superb chipped pass got Mackail-Smith in behind the defence but his first shot was blocked by Grant and a hurried follow-up attempt hacked off the line by a relieved Edgar.