Fulham Manager Kit Symons lost two on the bounce for the first time since he took the manager's reins - and was as mystified as anyone else in the 20,000 crowd why Fulham got beaten by the second-bottom side.
Brighton were good value for their 2-0 win in front of 3,000 travelling fans, and the honest Whites boss could only hold up his hands in apology to a bumper holiday crowd.
He said: "I can't put my finger on why. We never really got going and it started with a poor first half. It took them to score the penalty to spur us into any kind of action.
"The quality just wasn't there. The preparation was good, and we had an extra day's rest compared to other sides. So we've no excuses. It was just one of those nights. That's the Championship and anyone can beat anyone on any given day.
"There are not too many positives to take from the night. If we'd scored the first, we might have kicked on, and we had a few chances - but not enough shots on target for me. Full credit to them, but we were disappointing."