Watched by a crowd of 29, 514 the Hammers started the game brightly and could have taken the lead after only three minutes, when a neat touch by Don Hutchison on the edge of the box found Marlon Harewood in space. The striker's angled drive beat Michel Kuipers in the Brighton goal, but came agonisingly back off the post.
Hutchison was guilty of a miss himself just a few minutes later,
scuffing his shot wide from Luke Chadwick's cross.
With West Ham mounting raid after raid on the Brighton goal,
Harewood just shaved the post with a close range header from Hayden
Mullins' cross, while Luke Chadwick's mazy run finished
with a skidding shot that just trickled wide of the post.
At the other end of the pitch, a Hammers defence marshalled by the impressive Calum Davenport coped well with the Brighton attack, which included 38-year-old Steve Claridge. It was 20 minutes before the visitors mustered a shot, Adam Virgo's long range effort drifting well wide of Stephen Bywater's goal.
On 30 minutes Don Hutchison almost broke the deadlock with a header that skimmed the post after Kuipers had fumbled Matthew Etherington's cross.
Carl Fletcher twice shot over the bar in the final 15 minutes of the half, but despite enjoying a continued stream of attacks the Hammers could not find a way through Brighton's stubborn defence.
HT: 0-0
Hammers picked up where they left off after the break, with Harewood and Hutchison continuing to menace the Brighton defence.
On 50 minutes Harewood played a slide-rule pass that sent Etherington clear, but goalkeeper Kuipers came out to block bravely at the feet of the Hammers winger.
The collision left Etherington hobbling and he was replaced after 57 minutes by former Brighton star Bobby Zamora, who received a great ovation from both sets of supporters. Luke Chadwick also left the field, to be replaced by Nigel Reo-Coker, making his first appearance in three matches after recovering from a knee injury.
Roared on by an enthusiastic Upton Park crowd on a cold afternoon in East London, Alan Pardew's men continued to push forward.
On 64 minutes the substitutes combined when Reo-Coker was slipped in by the lively Zamora and lifted his shot over the advancing Kuipers only to see it drift wide of the post.
Then on 68 minutes, against the run of play, the Hammers were punished for their missed opportunities when Brighton took a shock 1-0 lead. A free-kick by Richard Carpenter found Guy Butters at the far post, and the Brighton defender rose above the Hammers defence to head down past Stephen Bywater and into the corner of the Hammers net.
Five minutes later, the contest suddenly erupted when Brighton forward Adam Virgo squared up to Hayden Mullins, sparking an unpleasant brawl which saw Virgo and Mullins both sent-off.
With both sides reduced to ten men and the match heating up,
West Ham continued to push forward. The introduction of Sergei
Rebrov after 79 minutes breathed fresh life into the Hammers
attack, but the Brighton back-line continued to hold firm.
Rebrov had a great chance to equalise late on when the ball dropped
to him ten yards out, but his snap shot grazed the bar on its way
over.
At the final whistle, Alan Pardew's side were left to look back on a host of missed chances as Mark McGee's men, who have won away at Leicester, Gillingham and Nottingham Forest already this season, left Upton Park with a precious three points.
WHU: Bywater; Mullins, Repka, Davenport, Powell, Chadwick (Reo-Coker 57), Lomas, Fletcher, Etherington (Zamora 57), Harewood, Hutchison (Rebrov 79). Subs unused: Walker (GK), Ferdinand.