Brighton and Hove Albion live football match reports from The Argus. Seagulls action from Withdean.

Albion v Derby County

• Kick off: 7:45pm Tue 4 Nov 08
• Referee: Kevin Friend
• Venue: Withdean

Final score:

Albion 1 - 4 Derby County

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0:00: Derby look very eye-catching in near-luminous lime green shirts. Ex-Albion favourites Peter Ward and Andy Rollings are here tonight and were introduced to the crowd a few minutes ago.

0:00: Remember this is an inter-active service so feel free to get involved using the Your Say function.

0:00: I have a source in the distant West Stand with whom I hope to make contact to get a bit of Derby feedback. Might depend on how the game goes I suppose.

0:00: We expect Albion to go 4-4-2 with three attack-minded midfielders. Clearly it's Sullivan in goal with the usual defence of Whing, Elphick, Hawkins and Richards. I'm predicting Anyinsah wide right and Cox wide left, either side of Thomson and Thornton, leaving Murray and Fleetwood to strike up a new pairing in attack. Any alteration to that, I'll let you know.

0:00: As the teams tend to list in alphabetical order as a default on this section, let me fill you in on the line-ups. Derby have surprised a few people by bringing back Roy Carroll in goal. That is one of three changes to the side which drew with Forest on Sunday and two to the side laid out on page 31 of The Argus today. That second change to our printed line-up in the paper sees Kazmierczak play wide right rather than Teale.

0:00: No Robbie Savage here tonight for either side. Derby media are just confirming he HAS signed for a spell in Beirut.

0:00: The Christmas decorations were going up in Brighton today - and Albion are still in three cups! Who'd have thought it? This is Brian Owen at crisp, chilly Withdean bringing you live updates as the Seagulls kick-off a knockout week tonight. Derby County are here in the Carling Cup tonight, it's an FA Cup tie versus Hartlepool on Saturday and either Carling Cup or JPT next Wednesday. There should be a decent crowd in tonight but as you are obviously not among us, why not stick with us for updates and reaction?

1:00: Albion are certainly going for it. Anyinsah is wide right and it is a 4-4-2 which will pretty easily become 4-2-4 when Albion get the ball. We're under way now with Albion attacking the west end.

4:00: Away from the football, a look around the stands reveals big gaps in the East Stand and empty rows at the front of the away end but otherwise pretty full stands, including the Family Stand and those distant blocks at the east end of the South Stand.

10:00: Goalless but Albion were so close on 6mins. It looked like Thomson with the precise pass and suddenly Fleetwood was in, albeit to the left of goal. He got a low shot past Carroll but Stewart amazingly got back to clear off the line. Two minutes later, Murray had the ball in the net but was offside. Very bright start by Albion and Carroll is taking as long as he can over goal kicks and free-kicks to try and help his side settle.

13:00: Evening Edspells (Your Say). Out of two cups by Saturday? Who knows? Maybe we'll be heading for a midweek replay at Hartlepool. What a prospect that is!

20:00: It has settled down a bit now although Derby are getting more into their stride and have sent a couple of half chances off target. Then, on 20, they were close to going ahead with a downward header by Villa which Sullivan saved really well low to his right in a crowded goalmouth.

28:00: Goal! Derby ahead with a hint of controversy. Sullivan came out for a high ball with Villa, Albion were convinced he had been fouled but the ball fell loose and VILLA hooked it home.

34:00: Goal! It's 2-0 now and that was so simple. Leacock played the ball forward, Albion's defence just evaporated and ELLINGTON was in to shoot past Sullivan.

36:00: Goal! Albion back it and deservedly so. Thornton whipped in a great corner to the far post and ELPHICK rose to head home. Really good game this so far.

37:00: Talking of Elphick, you'll see a bit of feedback from Crawley Town under Your Say courtesy of my colleague Bruce Talbot. You'll also see Edspells managing to heckle two games at the same time!

41:00: Another of my colleagues Mike Legg is in with the Derby fans tonight and has texted me a picture of his view from over there. Not great though he will have had a decent view of Elphick's goal. Leggy reported the stand to be bouncing at the start but then he'll enjoy being part of some good away support. He was covering the Lewes game on Saturday and witnessed the 11-strong Rooks away following at Wrexham.

45:00: Really good half with chances, and some wobbly defending, at both ends. Stewart has made two really good interventions for Derby, with that goal-line clearance and a block on the goalbound Anyinsah. Much of the talk though has been about Murray's disallowed goal. Fleetwood has been a real threat with his pace but, faced just by Carroll, he should have shot rather than look to tee up Murray, who was just ahead of him and had his tap-in ruled out for offside.

45:00: Half time We had two added minutes during which Albion had to get through some pretty desperate defending as crosses and shots flew in. The hosts, though, can feel a little unlucky to be 2-1 down at the interval. A very entertaining half.

46:00: Leggy in the Derby end texted at half-time to ask who scored the Rams' second goal - which probably illustrates the view over there!

58:00: Substitution Zadkovich comes on for Leacock for Derby. A pretty quiet opening to the second half has just been enlivened by a Thornton corner which was headed goalwards by Whing, then cleared by Stewart. Thornton has been lively again and there could yet be more goals in this tie. Extra-time? Don't rule it out.

60:00: Tonight's crowd is 6,625 of whom 612 are in the Derby end.

68:00: Substitution Teale on for Kazmierczak on 67. I don't know what the technical term is but the radio man behind me is not doing full commentary, only commentating when he thinks there might be a goal so he has the edited highlights at the end. He picked up his mic on 64 when another Thornton corner caused problems but Elphick's header was held by Carroll. Nyatanga has just been booked for fouling Fleetwood - that won't be on the highlights!

73:00: Goal! That's a quality goal by Derby to seemingly settle the tie. Sub Teale made space wide right very cleverly and whipped in a curling right foot cross for VILLA to guide home with a diving header at the far post. Teale has looked lively since coming on. He created an even better chance just after the break but this time Commons shot weakly wide. McLeod replaced Cox a few minutes before the goal.

84:00: Substitution Murray went off after 79, replaced by Livermore as this tie now looks to be heading for disappointment for Albion. El-Abd is on for Hawkins. The contest needs an Albion goal to re-ignite it but the best chance may well have just come and gone when unmarked Anyinsah glanced a header wide from McLeod's super cross.

87:00: Goal! Now that's very harsh. VILLA ran at the defence , went all the way through and rolled a low shot past Sullivan on 87. He then kept running all the way to the distant Derby fans in celebration.

90:00: Albion are getting a decent ovation from the North Stand fans in front of me. The final scoreline does them no favours from a very creditable performance. Thornton has just been voted the sponsors' man-of-the-match, which is fair enough from a home viewpoint, but Villa's classy finishing made the difference. Thanks to those of you oversead for your feedback. Please join us again on Saturday for the FA Cup.

90:00: Final whistle Well, that's it. We had four added minutes. Albion go out of the Carling Cup, sunk by an Emanuel Villa treble, but how different might it have been had they made the most of those two early chances?