We have this report from the game:

Has the bubble burst on our goal progress?

After being well beaten at Sunderland on Saturday, and a lot of the teams below us gaining points on Tuesday, a good performance was needed tonight to instill some confidence and to keep on collecting points. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Derby gave us a lesson in class, skill, keeping the ball, movement, taking chances and defensive solidarity. We started brightly, but after just 8 minutes, the scene was set for the rest of the game. Derby had their first decent chance and scored with ease. After that, they were first to every ball and never gave us a chance to settle. We looked disjointed and tired, lacking in class. The midfield were completely overrun. Derby were attacking down the wings with great success and we couldn't get the ball to our forward to relieve any pressure. 

Adam El-Abd was substituted before half time, but the reshuffle made little difference. Before this, Derby hit the post and the bar - we were lucky to go in at half time just 1-0 down!

Derby completely killed the game just 3 minutes into the second half, and even the faithful Albion supporters went quiet. We didn't have the class or it seems any ideas how to get ourselves back into the game.

Their third goal led to more Albion supporters than I can ever remember leaving the game with ten minutes to go. Just to make matters worse, the stewards then started picking on people in the crowd for minor offences, and we were glad to hear the final whistle before Derby scored any more goals!

Three points against Crewe on Saturday is vital to ensure that we keep a buffer between us and the relegation places.

A nice ground, however the only thing worse than Brighton's performance was the food! The Chicken Balti Pies were not to their usual high standard, and the burgers tasted like an old boot!

Summary: Without Kuipers we would have been much worse off - not for the first time this season!

Player Ratings:

Kuipers                 9

El-Abd                 5

Cullip                   7

Butters                 6

Harding                 4

Hinshelwood          4

Hammond               4

Oatway                 4

Currie                   6

Virgo                   4

Knight                  6

Subs:

Carpenter               5

Piercy                   5

Mayo                  5

Managers Reactions (Derby):

"I think that's the best we have played over 90 minutes. We've played quite well in periods of games so I was pleased that we kept it going.

"It was one of those occasions where everyone was on top of their game and it was nice to get a clean sheet at home.

"It was enjoyable to watch and I like to play entertaining football.

"I said at the start of the season that we could finish in the top half and I still stand by that but I honestly don't think the squad is strong enough for us to make the play-offs."

Managers Reactions (Brighton):

"This has been a lesson for us. We were shown up a bit tonight so it's a case of back to the drawing board.

"The bottom line is we have to get to 51 points but to do that we will have to play better than we did here but I have no fears that we will play better.

"The bonus for us was the performance of Leon Knight, he looked hungry and I thought he was unlucky with his header early on.

"Goals change games and although I'm not saying we would have gone on to win, it would have given him a lot of confidence."