Manchester United snatched a dramatic victory at Brighton thanks to a last second penalty in a stunning Premier League match on Saturday.
The eventful match with complete drama was settled with the very final kick as Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty to break the hearts of Brighton players whose heroics were downplayed by sheer misfortunes.
The winning penalty was spotted and awarded via a VAR check for Neal Maupay’s handball from a corner, all after on-field official Chris Kavanagh had blown to signal the end of the match.
The match at Amex stadium was packed with incident as the home side struck the woodwork five times (with Leandro Trossard responsible for three of them), saw one awarded penalty overruled by VAR and another potential one waved away by Kavanagh.
There was drama in the tail end as well as the referee was alerted of a handball by Maupay inside the box from Maguire’s header after blowing the final whistle. The VAR monitor checked it in favor of the Red Devils, as Fernandes stepped up and fired his spot-kick into the top corner to snatch a 3-2 victory for the visitors.
But despite still being far from their best, it is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side who emerge with a first win of the Premier League campaign, helping quieten some of the criticism that followed their surprise opening-game loss to Crystal Palace.
For Brighton who lost to Chelsea in the opening game, it is a flooring loss at the end of an emotional rollercoaster, but one from which they can draw plenty to be optimistic about.
“Over 90 minutes I thought we were the better team.” “I thought we scored with the last kick, I don’t know where the time came from.” Graham Potter was proud of his players despite losing in crazy circumstances to Man Utd.