Albion under-23s dumped holders Bognor out of the Sussex Senior Cup last night to book their spot in the semi-finals.

The Rocks trailed 4-0 at half-time and their miserable night at Nyewood Lane got even worse when they lost skipper Harvey Whyte nine minutes after the break.

Whyte was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Jack Spong after a foul ended a Rocks attack.

Whyte has only just returned from a three-match suspension.

The Seagulls got off to a flying start, taking a 2-0 lead by the 12th minute.

The Bognor keeper Amadou Tangara was beaten by Lorent Tolaj’s flick after just four minutes.

Jordan Davies added the second after 12 minutes to put the Seagulls in the driving seat against a Rocks side who handed debuts to new signings Tom Dinsmore, on loan from Bournemouth, and Jerry Puemo.

Alex Cochrane was the third player to net in the 24th minute when his cross took a big deflection to beat Tangara.

Swede Peter Gwargis nodded home the fourth from a Cochrane cross just before the half-hour mark.

The game was well and truly beyond Jack Pearce’s side at the break but Whyte saw red on 54 minutes to stack the odds even further against the BetVictor Premier play-off chasers.

The rain began to lash down as the goals flew in.

Tolaj made it 5-0 in the 59th minute and Romaric Yapi added the sixth after 74 minutes.

To Bognor’s credit, and despite being a man down, they kept pushing and were rewarded when Josh Flint replied a minute later.

It sparked a late goal flurry with Bradley Lethbridge drilling home a superb finish for the Rocks with ten minutes to go.

Albion tucked away a seventh through Tolaj for his hat-trick with six minutes left to cap a thoroughly dominant 7-2 victory and also secure a showdown with Worthing at Lancing.