BRIGHTON gave a Blackpool a stark lesson in how to finish teams off to complete a miserable three days for Steve McMahon's men.

After allowing Wycombe Wanderers to steal a point when Blackpool had established a 2-0 lead, they were shown exactly how to finish chances, put the game beyond the opposition and grab all three points by a rampant Brighton side.

In fairness, however, it wasn't Blackpool's strongest side, with McMahon given an early headache by a defensive crisis just a few games into the

season. Injuries to Brian Reid, Ian Hughes and Phil Thompson meant he

was forced into putting left back Tommy Jaszczun in the centre of defence alongside John O'Kane. At right back, Neil Murphy was finally given a chance after almost a year in the Reserves, and in midfield Jamie Milligan was given a rare start in place of the injured Paul Simpson.

As against Wycombe on Saturday, the game exploded into life with both sides wasting no time in creating their first chances.

Blackpool were given the best opportunity to open the scoring when Brett Ormerod was felled in the box on three minutes.

But John Murphy's penalty was excellently saved by Brighton's Dutch keeper Michels Kuipers.

The whole game could have been so much different had Murphy scored as Brighton then went on to take the game by the scruff of the neck and crush the Seasiders with four excellent goals without reply.

The first came on 37 minutes, and what a goal it was from midfielder Charlie Oatway.

After skipping past two or three Blackpool challenges Oatway found space to coolly slot past Barnes for a wonderful individual opener.

Steve McMahon's half-time words of wisdom were immediately nullified

as Brighton doubled their lead straight after the restart.

Richard Carpenter headed home from a cross from substitute Lee Steele on 47 minutes to put then two up and l5 minutes later it was 3-0 and game over.

Steele turned from provider to scorer with a fine header following a cross from Paul Booker.

But then came the main talking point of the match which saw Blackpool go down to 10 men.

Following treatment to a facial injury Lee Collins was ready to go back on the field and awaiting permission from the referee to rejoin his teammates.

But when Collins was not allowed on for several minutes, manager McMahon began to get annoyed.

Annoyance turned to sheer outrage when Ian Bullock was amazing sent off for arguing with referee while trying to persuade him to let Collins back on the pitch.

Steve McMahon joined Bullock in the changing rooms minutes later when the Blackpool manager was also sent off by the fourth official for his

involvement in the argument.

Brighton's highly-rated striker Bobby Zamora compounded the Seasiders' misery and completed the rout with a fourth goal on 80 minutes.

RESULT: Brighton 4 - 0 Blackpool

Scorers: Oatway (37), Carpenter (47), Steele (62), Zamora (80)

Attendance: 6,696

Blackpool team: Barnes, O'Kane, Jaszczun, Murphy, Hills, Wellens, Collins, Bullock, Milligan, Ormerod, Murphy.