Torquay 0 Albion 2.

Striker Nicky Forster was Albion's FA Cup hero as he fired them into the third round with two goals against Conference high-flyers Torquay at Plainmoor.

Wilkins turned to the energetic and enthusiastic attributes of Tommy Fraser in the centre of midfield, with George O'Callaghan beginning a three- match ban for his rash red card in the home draw with Carlisle.

Chris Zebroski, on loan from Millwall, was also suspended for Torquay, so the experienced Lee Phillips came into the team.

United boss Paul Buckle also recalled fit-again captain Steve Woods to the centre of defence at the expense of on-loan Bolton teenager Mark Ellis.

They call Torquay the English Riviera but there is not much of a continental feel to it at the start of December.

Conditions were a great leveller. Plainmoor is a tight ground where the spectators are close to the action. The wind was fierce and the pitch bumpy, so the elements were in place for an upset.

Albion had the wind behind them in the first half, which is not necessarily an advantage. Passes are easily overhit and they had to weather an early flurry from the pumped-up hosts.

Assistant manager Dean White was soon gesturing to his players for calm and, once they settled down, the Seagulls looked the better side.

They forced four corners in the opening quarter of an hour and caused the Torquay defence some concern with a couple of efforts from long range.

Dean Cox side-footed a cross from Fraser wide of the target from 20-yards. Jake Robinson was further out when his low drive deflected off Woods for a corner, with keeper Martin Rice wrong-footed.

It was half-an-hour before Albion survived their first genuine scare, from the smallest player on the pitch.

Danny Stevens, Torquay's left winger, is even shorter than his Albion counterpart, Cox.

He was walking tall in the first round with two goals in Torquay's shock 4-1 victory against Yeovil and he nearly struck again when Andrew Whing failed to clear inside his own penalty area.

Stevens cut inside for a shot which deflected narrowly wide off an Albion player.

That lifted the home side and they spurned a good opportunity to get their noses in front in the 33rd minute.

The Seagulls struggled to deal with a long throw by Kevin Nicholson. Tim Sills reacted quickest to hook the ball across the face of goal to Phillips, who headed wide.

Albion looked a little rocky at that point and Michel Kuipers was a little fortunate when his hurried clearance ricocheted off Elliot Benyon after the Dutch keeper had been played into trouble by a short back pass from Dean Hammond.

Joel Lynch, so comfortable on the ball for a centre half, relieved the pressure with a surging run from deep and unleashed a shot which Rice did well to hold.

Neither goalkeeper was seriously examined in a predictably frenetic opening 45 minutes, although Rice was also called upon to grab a looping header by Bas Savage from a Matt Richards' cross.

Nicky Forster, so sharp and prolific of late, was a peripheral figure in the first half but he came to life two minutes into the restart with driving run which took him past Nicholson into the box.

An end to the deadlock beckoned when he pulled the ball back into the path of Robinson, only for Woods to get in the way of the shot.

Robinson was, by that stage, operating at the advanced point of the midfield diamond which Wilkins introduces from time to time.

The Seagulls looked more threatening as a result and were rewarded with Forster's eighth goal in as many matches in the 63rd minute.

Cox's cross found him unmarked and he placed his header out of Rice's reach.

Once Albion were ahead, Wilkins withdrew the attack-minded Robinson and brought on the fit-again Doug Loft, who kept the Seagulls in the FA Cup with an injury time equaliser at Cheltenham in round one.

The concentration in the build-up to the game of defending better as a team had the desired effect. Albion were generally sound at the back, if occasionally unsettled at set pieces.

A back-header by Sills from a long throw by Chris Robertson had to be pushed over by Kuipers.

Chris Hargreaves also fired over in attempting an immediate response to the latest example of Forster's clinical finishing.

Forster repeated the trick in stoppage time with another emphatic finish after Cox put him clear.

Job done, Albion will now be hoping that ball No. 53 lands a plum tie in round three.

Torquay: Rice, Robertson, Woods, Todd, Nicholson, Stevens, Mansell, Hargreaves, Phillips, Benyon, Sills. Subs: Rayner, Hill, Bedeau, Hockley, Welsh.

Brighton: Kuipers, Whing, Lynch, El-Abd, Richards, Robinson, Hammond, Fraser, Cox, Forster, Savage. Subs: Sullivan, Revell, Butters, Loft, Martot.

Who would you like Albion to get in the next round?