Albion suffered a fourth successive defeat today as they went down 2-0 at Coventry.

Strike pair Gary McSheffrey and Lukas Jutkiewicz scored for the Sky Blues in a win which drags them off the foot of the Championship.

It was a dismal way to end 2011 for the Seagulls and their 1,306 travelling fans in a crowd of 14,158 scattered around the impressive Ricoh Arena.

Albion had lots of possession in the first half and spent plenty of time in the Coventry half.

But they were caught on a counter raid as City went ahead on 34 minutes.

Albion worked the ball to Craig Noone after a free-kick but he was robbed by Gary Deegan.

McSheffrey took up possession and was allowed to sprint deep into the Albion half before netting with a terrific low drive.

Craig Mackail-Smith got in behind the home defence within a couple of minutes but, from a wide angle, saw his shot blocked by oncoming goalkeeper Joe Murphy.

The City keeper had earlier held crisply struck low drives from Matt Sparrow and Billy Paynter as Albion, in a 4-5-2 formation with Noone and Mauricio Taricco working as wing-backs, played some decent stuff.

Other than his part in the home goal, Noone had the beating of which ever opponent appeared in front of him.

Deegan was booked for a foul on the winger and was lucky to escape another card after a similar trip on the same player soon afterwards.

Coventry, though, extended their lead nine minutes into the second period and again McSheffrey played a massive part, whipping a superb cross over Casper Ankergren for Jutkiewicz to head home at the far post.

Albion sent on Kazenga LuaLua and Will Buckley in a double substitution and unleashed young midfielder Jake Forster-Caskey for a first taste of Championship action soon afterwards.

But they were unable to end a goal drought which now stretches to four games – all of them lost – ahead of the visit of leaders Southampton on Monday.