Harsh welcome for Gareth

Mr Prescott may be no pretty boy, but the Deputy Prime Minister was every Seagulls fans' Valentine a week or so ago. The Deputy PM holds the keys to Brighton's proposed new stadium at Falmer and has been inundated with petitions, letters and emails urging him to approve the construction.

As Cherries boss Sean O'Driscoll correctly pointed out: "He only needs to watch a video of this game to see how necessary it really is."

This game was about as easy on the eye as Mr Prescott himself as Cherries were crushed by their bruising counterparts. Three goals in the first 24 minutes meant - barring a Manchester City-style miracle - the game was effectively over as Leon Knight tickled home a penalty. It was.

The open nature of the Withdean Stadium means the elements always play a huge part in every match played here. Nothing ruins a football match more than a blustery wind and this variety had sharper teeth than a Great White shark.

The Arctic-style gale also ensured that the ball spent more time being chased down by the ball-boys on the adjacent running track than it did on the bobbly surface of the Withdean pitch.

Aside from the external factors that contributed to Cherries' first defeat in six matches, were the Cherries themselves. They were awful.

O'Driscoll's side, that has been nurtured in a passing style over several years, struggled to come to terms with the conditions that were simply not condusive to two-touch passing and moving. The truth is, Real Madrid would have struggled to string five passes together in a similar situation.

But Division Two is not always the platform to display silky skills - particularly on a grey and miserable February afternoon. Some-times you have to dig in, battle and scrap for a 0-0 draw and Cherries were simply outfought all over the park for the first 45 minutes.

Neil Moss saw his net bulge for the first time in four matches with only six minutes on the clock as Gary Hart scored with perhaps the only moment of real quality in the whole game.

Cherries were flat-footed to a quickly taken throw-in, Hart drove past Warren Cummings at speed and his angled drive from inside the penalty box beat Moss and flashed inside the far post.

From that point, any plans to keep things tight in the first 20 minutes were blown away - literally - and while Cherries needed to steady the ship quickly, Brighton were pumped up and sensed blood.

The hosts' gameplan of a high-pressure game was ideally suited to the conditions of the day. Their notion was to hit their powerful striker Trevor Benjamin as early as possible and chase the knock-downs. Simplistic perhaps, but hugely effective on a day when you cannot afford to take defensive chances.

Lewis Buxton, the normally dependable youngster, will surely have learned that important lesson after his woeful back-pass gifted Albion a second on 13 minutes.

The on-loan Portsmouth man seemed in control of the situation with a forward harrying him in possession. But the 20-year-old didn't look before attempting to find Moss - if he had, he would surely have seen Benjamin standing on his own in the box.

So it came as little surprise that having been gifted a shooting opportunity 12 yards from goal, the striker rifled home high into the net to double the lead and leave Buxton with his head in his hands.

Probably shaken by his mistake, Buxton's misery was confirmed 10 minutes later as Albion sealed the game by the end of the first quarter.

This time it was less obviously his fault as Cherries dithered in midfield before a hopeful knock over the top released Nathan Jones clean through on goal.

The Isle of Wight-born defender did his best to make up the lost ground but his shove in Jones' back as he pulled the trigger brought the winger down and left the referee with an easy decision to give the penalty.

Knight, whose pace and trickery caused plenty of problems for a Cherries defence robbed of Karl Broadhurst, confidently shimmied up to the spot and did the rest. Game over.

O'Driscoll's men, clearly rocked by their early capitulation, ventured forward knowing that they needed a goal and quickly if they were to have any chance of a miracle fightback.

Claus Jorgensen, whose initial one-month loan spell with Cherries expired yesterday, tried his luck with a long-range effort soon after, but Ben Roberts didn't even need to muddy his shirt as he watched it sail high over his bar.

While O'Driscoll's calm manner may have been tested to the limit at the interval, he did at least inspire the troops into a more battling display in the second half.

With Brighton already out on the pitch waiting for the restart for several minutes, someone suggested the Cherries were already on the coach home.

But to their credit, nobody threw the towel in and laid down to take their beating. Admittedly, Albion were happy to sit back much more and with Eastenders' Mitchell brothers as centre-backs - Danny Cullip and Guy Butters - Cherries' strikers were given little chance of a lifeline back into the game.

Eleven minutes into an uneventful second half, O'Driscoll switched to 4-3-3 replacing the unfortunate Buxton with Derek Holmes as the visitors began to exert at least some more pressure on Albion.

But they struggled to create a clear-cut opening to make Brighton consider the possibility of an unlikely fightback.

In fact, Roberts, who is best known for conceding the fastest ever goal in an FA Cup Final during his days at Middlesbrough, barely had a shot on goal to save. But for a couple of looping headers that he gathered without too many worries under his crossbar, his goal remained untroubled throughout.

Frustration was the name of the game for Cherries and even the mild-mannered Wade Elliott got hot under the collar when a stray ball was mistakenly thrown on to the pitch by a ball boy. When Wade loses his rag, you know things have not gone well.

There was however one spark of good news on a miserable day for Cherries.

The absent James Hayter phoned his team-mates on the coach to Brighton to tell them that he had become a dad. Girlfriend Sarah and new son Harris were said to be doing well. They were the lucky ones - they all missed the game.