Brighton & Hove Albion slumped to their first pre-season defeat of the summer after going down 3-1 to Real Betis in Spain this evening.

The Spaniards were forced to come from behind in order to claim the victory after Craig Mackail-Smith fired the Seagulls ahead, latching on to Jake Forster-Caskey's effort to stroke home on 11 minutes.

Betis threatened an equaliser on several occasions before striking gold in timely fashion as Ruben Castro restored parity on the stroke of half time.

Julio Velazquez's side retained that momentum following the 15-minute interval and went ahead early in the second half, courtesy of Jorge Casado's diving header.

Betis, who were relegated from La Liga last season, put the result beyond doubt on 76 minutes as Braian Rodriguez added a third to give manager Sami Hyypia his first loss as Brighton boss.