The Seagulls came home frustrated and disappointed after a 3-1 defeat in the North East.
They were guilty of poor finishing and had a bit of bad luck in front of goal.
But there were two moments when it looked like they might have had spot kicks in the second half.
It felt like both were rather glossed over because of what happened a second or two later on each occasion.
Pascal Gross was convinced a penalty should have been awarded when his shot was blocked by Malick Thiaw.
The rebound saw Charalampos Kostoulas unleash a superb acrobatic effort which produced an equally good save from Nick Pope.
Gross told The Argus: “We had some big chances to make it 2-2.
“I also think it’s a penalty, in my opinion.
“Because when I shot the ball he blocked it with his arm and, if he had not, it would have gone in.
“I don’t understand why we didn’t get a penalty.”
Video assistant Neil Davies will have studied the incident and there was no pitchside review.
Kostoulas later felt he was fouled as he tried to turn home a low cross from Georginio Rutter.
He appeared to have his feet taken from under him right in front of goal by Dan Burn’s desperate sliding challenge.
As Kostoulas complained to referee Chris Kavanagh, the ball ran to Yankuba Minteh, who blazed his shot over the abr.
All the attention was taken by that bad miss but Kostoulas clearly felt there was a case for a spot kick.