It was a disappointing night in front of the Sky Sports cameras for Queens Park Rangers as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday.

Rangers had won four straight games at Loftus Road, but the Seagulls are on the march to the Premier League and their quality showed, although the Hoops gave them a real fright.

The first half took a while to come to life, but it ended up being a lively first 45 minutes with Brighton having two goals disallowed for offside.

Ryan Manning is a real prospect

In a first half that sometimes lacked cutting edge, it was youngster Ryan Manning that was at the forefront of everything good for QPR.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed an extended run in the team since the turn of the year, and has shown manager Ian Holloway that he has no intention of letting go of his first team place with a string of fine performances.

He was excellent throughout against the new Championship league leaders, and did not deserve to be on the losing side.

Having felt aggrieved not to have been given a goal (or two) in the first half, Brighton duly took the lead on 58 minutes.

Glenn Murray celebrates his goal

Ian Holloway will be furious with his defence

It was like the parting of the Red Sea for Brighton's opener!

When Glenn Murray won the ball inside his own half, Rangers went to pieces at the back and the forward was allowed the freedom of Loftus Road to latch onto Tomer Hemed's ball forward and stride through into QPR's half unopposed and slot past Smithies.

If there is one thing Holloway would have asked of his team, against the promotion chasers, it would have been to remain solid at the back.

That was sloppy and ultimately costly as Rangers went down to a one-goal defeat.

The second Seagulls goal was a peach.

A free-kick on the right edge of the Rangers box looked as if it would be set up by Sebastien Pocognoli for Anthony Knockaert to strike. But Pocognoli came up with an absolute stunner right in the top corner, to double Brighton's advantage.

There is a reason Brighton are top of the table, for now at least

They spray the ball around the park with consummate ease, working the pitch until spaces open up for them to exploit.

They've got a good defence, although they did look a little shaky without Lewis Dunk at centre-back, a workhorse in Dale Stephens in the middle of the pitch, the flair of Anthony Knockaert and a frontman in Glenn Murray who is not afraid to do the dirty work, and can bang in the goals too.

The Premier League will be a better league with them in it.

It should have been game over when the visitors went 2-0 up, but QPR did not give up.

To be fair to Rangers, they played pretty well, Brighton were just clinical.

Ian Holloway went for it, throwing on Yeni NGbakoto and Idrissa Sylla, but it was Matt Smith who pulled them back into it.

After he had a header scrambled away for a corner, he made no mistake from the resulting set-piece, flicking a gorgeous header in off the crossbar.

The Hoops laid siege to the Brighton goal and created havoc in the Seagulls back-line but could not force a leveller.

Conor Washington in action against Brighton

Conor Washington's performance deserved a goal

The frontman was a constant thorn in the Brighton back-line and did everything but score on Friday night.

He had a couple of good chances, but either fired at David Stockdale or off target.

He was always looking for the ball though, always willing to run at the visitors' defence and create openings for himself. He just lacked that goal.