A COMEDY moment ended this entertaining match, which was marred by some over officious refereeing by Mark Cooper who brandished two red and seven yellow cards.

Gillingham took the lead in the 11th minute, Paul Shaw taking advantage of some poor defending, and virtually from the restart it was 2-0 as David Perpetuini lashed the ball home.

Former Gills player Richard Carpenter gave the Seagulls hope with a fine shot, that floated past the fingertips of Jason Brown and spun in off the post.

A lobbed pass from the busy Kevin James set Shaw free to muscle his way through and chip the on-coming Andy Petterson for his second of the afternoon, but then Mark Saunders reacted violently to a poor challenge from Shaun Wilkinson and was shown a straight red.

In the second half it was all one-way traffic and it was no surprise when substitute Gary Hart made it 3-2 with 10 minutes remaining.

The Albion threw everything at Gills, but when a Paul Smith clearance fell to James in injury time he out-paced the last defender and as the hapless Petterson tried to get back he stumbled gifting James an empty net, which he duly rolled the ball into.

As James celebrated with the travelling fans referee Cooper sprinted up behind him and sent him off for the heinous crime of being happy at winning a game in the dying seconds.