Bristol City's attempts to move clear of relegation trouble faltered in West Sussex as they went down 2-0 to Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
The Seagulls made light of a crippling injury list to deservedly take all three points against opponents who again lacked quality going forward and seldom looked like scoring.
Skipper Inigo Calderon beat David James with a thunderbolt from 25 yards to open the scoring eight minutes before half time, the Spaniard registering his first goal of the season.
And impressive winger Will Buckley made the game safe for the home side 17 minutes from time, making the most of hesitancy at the heart of the City defence to beat James with a low shot.
Without the injured Albert Adomah, City simply lacked the invention and menace to get back into the game and they failed to muster a single on-target effort in 90 minutes.
Armed with new signings Richard Foster and Chris Wood, City manager Derek McInnes opted to ditch his normal 4-5-1 formation and start with a more attacking 4-4-2 formation.
On-loan West Bromwich Albion forward Wood played up alongside Nicky Maynard, while former Aberdeen captain Foster fitted in at right-back in a side showing three changes from the one beaten by Crawley in the FA Cup seven days earlier.
If Foster demonstrated an impressive turn of pace when overlapping on the right, Wood showed early signs of building an understanding with eight-goal top-scorer Maynard, finding his fellow marksman on a number of occasions during the first half.
But goal-scoring chances remained few and far between and the nearest the Robins came to unsettling Brighton was when Marvin Elliott ran onto Martyn Woolford's cross and sent his shot wide of the target from 18 yards out.
But the visitors appeared comfortable in their team shape and Brighton, seeking to take the game to their opponents, were largely frustrated as they struggled to penetrate a well-orchestrated defence.
Craig Mackail-Smith threatened midway through the first half when bursting onto Will Buckley's through ball, but the former Peterborough marksman over-ran the ball and the opportunity was lost.
That was Mackail-Smith's last contribution, the forward li8mping off with an injury on 23 minutes, to be replaced by ex-Bristol Rovers star Will Hoskins.
Already depleted by injury, the Seagulls suffered further disruption five minutes later, Jake Forster-Caskey hobbling off and being replaced by Alan Navarro, much to manager Gus Poyet's frustration.
Navarro was immediately involved, racing onto Matt Sparrow's centre and firing his shot over the bar and into the 2,000 City fans packed behind the goal.
When Brighton did finally break the deadlock on 37 minutes, the goal came out of the blue. There appeared little danger when Seagulls captain Inigo Calderon collected a pass from Liam Bridcutt five yards in from the right touchline. But the right-back cut in and unleashed a sweetly-struck drive from 25 yards that beat the despairing dive of Robins keeper David James and ended up in the far top corner.
City tried to respond and Foster made a forward foray deep into Albion territory and picked out Elliott on the edge of the penalty area, only for the Londoner to make a hash of his attempted shot.
Brighton almost doubled their lead in time added on at the end of the first half, Sparrow trying his luck from range and James going full-length to tip the ball over.
Having no doubt received an earful from manager McInnes during the interval, City emerged for the second half in more purposeful mood and Maynard put Brighton keeper Peter Brezovan under pressure for the first time, narrowly losing out in the race for Wood's flicked header.
As in the first half, though, the contest was high on endeavour but woefully lacking on quality and Navarro wasted a chance for the home side, leaning back and directing his shot ludicrously high and wide from 20 yards out.
McInnes made two changes, one out of choice, the other from necessity, replacing the ineffective Woolford with Yannick Bolasie and then sending on Kalifa Cisse for the injured Elliott.
Although the visitors defended well enough and looked a solid unit, they simply lacked the midfield creativity to supply frontrunners Maynard and Wood with any kind of meaningful service.
Brighton made sure of the points 17 minutes from time, Buckley running onto Hoskins' flicked header and sliding his angled shot past James and into the far corner. It was a goal borne out of City's hesitation, Louis Carey waiting in vain for his goalkeeper to come and collect the loose ball and allowing Hoskins to take advantage.
McInnes threw Brett Pitman on in a bid to salvage something from the game, but apart from a Foster cross that narrowly eluded the in-rushing Maynard, City did not look like scoring.
Brighton (4-1-4-1): Brezovan; Calderon, Dunk, El-Abd, Vincelot; Bridcutt; Buckley, Sparrow, Forster-Caskey (Navarro 28), Barnes; Mackail-Smith (Hoskins 23).
City (4-4-4): James; Foster, Carey, Nyatanga, McGivern; Skuse, Elliott (Cisse 70), Kilikenny (Pitman 78), Woolford (Bolasie 62); Wood, Maynard.
Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire)
Attendance: 20,398
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