Brighton 3 Swansea 2

Rory Fallon skied a chance to hand 10-man Swansea City an unlikely point with the last kick of the game at Brighton last night.Substitute Fallon had thrown Kenny Jackett’s men a lifeline when his sixth goal of the season cut the deficit to 3-2 in the first minute of stoppage time.

But with 95 minutes on the clock, the former Swindon man scooped his sliding shot over the top after keeper Wayne Henderson had flapped at Alan Tate’s deep free-kick.

In truth a draw would have been unjust. Swansea were outplayed by a Brighton side who had not won a home league game since mid September before last night.

Dennis Lawrence’s second Swansea goal had brought them level early in the second period after Dean Cox had given the home side a deserved interval lead.

But Alex Revell’s double sealed the points for Dean Wilkin’s deserving team.

And so Swansea’s five-match unbeaten run came to an end as they struggled to compete in the second of two quickfire away fixtures yet again.

Darren Pratley’s sending off – and his imminent suspension – just put the tin hat on a miserable night.

The absence in the visiting ranks of Brighton hate figure Leon Knight was on all the natives’ lips prior to kick-off, but Swansea were much more concerned with Lee Trundle’s non-attendance.

Knight and Trundle are Jackett’s two top-scorers this season – they have seven and eight goals respectively – but with the former in exile at Barnsley and the latter missing because of a thigh strain, Swansea had a hole to fill in attack.

Bayo Akinfenwa was preferred to Fallon in the targetman role, while Ian Craney made his full debut as a second striker despite arriving in Wales primarily as a midfield reinforcement.

The Bootle boy for the man from Huyton was one of three changes from the weekend FA Cup win at Darlington.

Kevin Amankwaah was recalled in defence with Frenchman Sylvain Meslien bombed out completely after being substituted before half-time over the weekend.

Akinfenwa was the other new face, starting here ahead of Tom Butler having replaced the unfortunate Irishman after just 13 minutes in the North East.

Swansea were behind inside the first 100 seconds at Darlington, and they were slow out of the blocks once more at the opposite end of the country.

Fortunately for Jackett’s defenders, they were not punished for leaving Revell unmarked at a corner as he steered his shot into the advertising boards to the right of Willy Gueret’s goal.

But there was no let off when Brighton, who had started with greater purpose, came calling again 11 minutes later.

Revell used his 6ft 4in frame to win an aerial dual with Alan Tate, playing in central defence to accommodate Amankwaah on the right.

The knock-down fell to Cox near the left touchline and the little winger accepted the invitation to cut inside and line up a shot from outside the box.

The result was devastating. Gueret appeared to have Cox’s swerving effort covered but pushed his left hand into thin air as the ball sailed into the top corner.

Swansea’s goalkeeper slapped the sodden turf in frustration, perhaps with himself, perhaps with the defenders who had failed to close the goalscorer down.

Jackett was looking pretty upset on the touchline, too, and his mood cannot have improved as his team ambled through the first period.

There was little sign of the form which had seen them defeated only once in seven before this, and it was the mid-table Seagulls pressing again just before the half hour.

This time Kerry Mayo pulled a left-wing corner back to Cox, who was all alone once more outside the Swansea box. Again he struck sweetly, but Pratley was on hand to block in front of Gueret.

Only in the closing minutes of the first period did Swansea begin to show any attacking menace.

First Kevin Amankwaah overlapped Leon Britton neatly down the right before drilling a deep cross which Akinfenwa met with a looping header which dropped onto the crossbar.

Brighton broke from the clearance and caused some more panic in the visitors’ rearguard, but it was Swansea pressing hard for an equaliser just before the turnaround.

Two Andy Robinson long-rangers were smothered by keeper Wayne Henderson, then the Scouser scooted round right-back Andrew Whing before flashing the ball across the face of goal.

Sam Rents cleared with Britton closing in, and with that Swansea readied themselves for a few stern words in the dressing room.

There was a substitution, too, with Fallon replacing Shaun MacDonald. The big Kiwi joined Akinfenwa in a heavyweight attack with Craney, who had struggled to make an impact up front, dropping back to his favoured midfield role.

Jackett was looking for a big improvement.

After 13 scrappy minutes he had not seen enough to suggest an equaliser was coming, so 17-year-old Chris Jones arrived in place of Akinfenwa in a second attacking change.

The youngster’s first touch was a lay-off to Andy Robinson down the Swansea right, and his left-foot cross was met with a firm Lawrence header which Henderson was powerless to stop.

The 6ft 7in defender was loitering up front after an earlier set-piece – and Jackett was delighted.

Swansea were suddenly in the ascendancy, yet unforgivably they were behind again inside seven minutes after Amankwaah needlessly lunged in on Jake Robinson near the corner flag.

Rents curled the resulting free-kick in left-footed and Revell got in front of Kevin Austin before beating the helpless Gueret with a diving header from six yards.

Now Swansea had to dig deep to fight back for a second time, but they never threatened to do so.

In fact it was Brighton searching for a killer goal and, after Gueret had denied Jake Robinson with a superb save, Revell helped himself to his 10th of the season to finish Swansea off.

This time it was a corner which undid Jackett’s team. Dean Hammond’s unmarked header was scrambled clear, as was Revell’s first shot.

But the ball came straight back to the former Braintree Town striker and he hammered home from 12 yards.

Pratley picked up two yellow cards inside 18 minutes, the first for a high challenge and the second for shirt-pulling, to leave Swansea a man short for the closing moments.

Remarkably, they pulled a goal back when Fallon stroked home from close range and then had another chance through the same player.

But this was a night when Swansea got what they deserved. Nothing.

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