BRIGHTON 2
PORT VALE 3
Danny Whitaker scored the winner to keep alive Vale's slim survival hopes and lift them off the foot of League One.
"I can't believe it," said Whitaker. "We'd been down there so long but we will keep going until it's mathematically impossible for us to stay up."
Marc Richards struck twice for Vale within 18 minutes. Dean Cox pulled one back for Brighton, but Whitaker sealed victory from 30 yards before Glenn Murray's consolation goal.
Albion bossDean Wilkins said: "It's the worst we've defended for a long time."