Albion went out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle – beaten by a scruffy goal and punished for a poor, disjointed display.

They went down 1-0 at home to Sheffield Wednesday for whom Adam Reach scored with a free-kick which took a big deflection.

The Seagulls struggled to create a goal threat, other than at set-pieces and, once behind, never really looked like forcing a replay.

Glenn Murray’s absence was a talking point as Albion made seven changes.

The striker was said to have a knock. He has been speculatively linked with a move away from the Seagulls this month.

Albion reached half-time on level terms thanks to a super save in added time from David Button to deny Steven Fletcher after Dale Stephens lost the ball on the edge of the box.

The Seagulls had made most of the running with Ezequiel Schelotto playing ell forward down the right but moments of menace were rare.

Gaetan Bong, with licence to attack down the left, got his head to a Steven Alzate cross, forcing Cameron Dawson to tip over.

Neal Maupay worked himself a good chance by dispossessing Dominic Iorfa near the byline and cutting inside.

But he opted to shoot from a tight angle rather than pull the ball back and saw his effort blocked by Dawson.

Yves Bissouma saw a shot blocked by a defender.

But it was subdued stuff and Potter sent on Aaron Connolly for defender Leon Balogun at the break in search of more firepower.

Jacob Murphy flashed a shot low across goal early in the second half for Wednesday.

But Albion, now attacking the North Stand, were close to a breakthrough when Shane Duffy’s downward header from a corner was safely held by Dawson as it reared up off the turf infront of him.

Wednesday went ahead on 64 minutes after Alzate was penalised for a high boot as he challenged Massimo Luongo just outside the box.

They worked the free-kick short to Reach, whose low shot took a big deflection to wrongfoot Button.

Albion huffed and puffed in response and Duffy was again off target from a corner.

But they were lacking in ideas, tempo and quality and it was Wednesday who celebrated at the end after precious few alarms.

The only blot on their day was what looked like a nasty injury to striker Fletcher, who was stretchered off in the second half.

Albion: Button; Schelotto, Webster, Duffy, Balogun (Connolly 46), Bong (Bernardo 71); Alzate, Bissouma (Jahanbakhsh 63), Stephens, Gross; Maupay. Subs not used: Steele, Montoya, Cochrane, Propper.

Sheffield Wednesday: Dawson; Urhoghide, Iorfa, Borner, Fox; Pelupessy; Lee, Murphy (Harris 71), Luongo, Reach (Lees 90); Fletcher (Winnall 55). Subs not used: Wildsmith, Rhodes, Nuhiu, Hunt.

Referee: Andre Marriner.

Attendance: 20,349.