Brighton & Hove Albion are 45 minutes away from recording back-to-back victories in the Championship after taking a 1-0 lead in at the break at home to Blackburn Rovers.

Gary Gardner struck towards the end of the half to give Sami Hyypia's side the advantage as they look to claim their second win in a week and continue their ascent away from the relegation zone.

There was an early injury scare for the visitors when Tom Cairney was forced to hobble off inside the first five minutes, but the 23-year-old returned shortly after to the relief of the Rovers faithful.

The first real chance for Rovers came through Cairney when he got on the end of Ben Marhsall's deflected cross, but he was denied by Christian Walton.

Rohan Ince tried his luck from range for the Seagulls, before Ryan Tunnicliffe dragged a 20-yard effort wide of the goal moments later.

The in-form Marshall was next to try his luck for Blackburn and his well-struck free kick flashed narrowly wide shortly after the half-hour mark.

With the first half petering out, Gardner claimed his second goal in a week as he met Jake Forster-Caskey's corner to open the scoring.