Bobby Zamora blotted his copybook with a rash red card as Albion maintained their miserable sequence in the FA Cup.

But manager Micky Adams showed more sense than his young star by restricting himself to lukewarm criticism.

Hands up who hasn't done anything daft at the age of 19?

Zamora's dismissal at the fag end of a fiercely fought affair owed much to the naivety of youth.

It was silly rather than malicious and in the long run it won't hurt him to be knocked down a peg or two amid all the fuss surrounding his goalscoring exploits The scouts were out in force again at Glanford Park, 13 of them to be precise.

Newcastle, Leicester, Southampton and Middlesbrough were all represented. So too were seven First Division clubs, including Wolves.

Of course, they were not all necessarily there to watch Zamora.

Matthew Wicks has been linked with Wolves and Newcastle for a start, but it's a fair bet most of them had their eye on Albion's young goal machine.

In that respect he did not disappoint. Zamora's close-range header from Paul Watson's inswinging cross raised his season's total to 16, including six in his last four appearances.

Another goal for the wonder boy came as no surprise and some of those scouts were probably already on their way home when he went from hero to zero.

Fortunate Zamora was arguably a touch fortunate not to see red for his first offence. He appeared to kick out at Russ Wilcox with two minutes of normal time remaining.

Dismissal became inevtiable three minutes into time added on. He knocked the ball out of the hands of Tommy Evans as the Scunthorpe keeper prepared to take a free-kick inside his own area.

Numerical parity was restored by referee Bill Jordan just a minute later.

Scunthorpe's Icelandic midfielder Bjarni Larusson, booked in the first half for dissent, went the same way as Zamora following a foul on substitute Paul Brooker.

The last-gasp disciplinary dramas overshadowed a competitive contest in which a draw would have been a fair result.

Albion had the upper hand in a lively first half, while the replay Adams said he didn't want due to the state of the Withdean pitch became increasingly likely in a stagnant second period.

There was nothing the Seagulls could do about Scunthorpe's opener in the sixth minute.

Peter Morrison cut inside to unleash a left-foot shot from 25 yards which hit the angle of post and crossbar.

It rebounded obligingly for Steve Torpey to slot into an empty net, with Michel Kuipers stranded out of position by his vain dive.

Albion's response was impressive and Zamora should have levelled even earlier, but he headed into the advancing Evans after escaping goal side of the Scunthorpe defence.

Wicks in the first minute and Nathan Jones in the last minute of the half also went close to scoring, but the fates somehow seem to conspire against Albion in the FA Cup.

Gareth Sheldon, the man responsible for their eighth successive exit before the lucrative third round stage, was deputising up front for suspended top scorer Guy Ipoua.

His flick header from Andrew Dawson's free-kick with 14 minutes left broke his home duck and meant, much to Adams' annoyance no doubt, that Albion had for once conceded rather than scored from a set piece.

As if to add to the irony who do you suppose came in to Sheldon's customary role on the right side of midfield in the absence of Ipoua? You've guessed it, Morrison.

Adams used all three of his substitutes in the second half and Andy Crosby's late introduction allowed the outstanding Danny Cullip to go up front.

He couldn't quite emulate Sheldon, although Albion had strong appeals for a penalty rejected when Torpey seemed to handle Kerry Mayo's long throw.

Adams said: "I don't think we deserved to win and they didn't either.

"I was pleased with our performance in the first half. The early goal didn't unsettle us and we came back very strongly.

"I thought there was only going to be one winner at half time, but Brian (Laws) got his lads up for it and they closed us down better in the second half.

"It became a struggle, particularly in the last third of the pitch. Our front three weren't positive enough.

"I didn't want to be saying it, but at least we can now concentrate on the League!"