João Pedro’s 95th-minute header sealed a thrilling 2-1 victory for Brighton & Hove Albion over Manchester United at the Amex Stadium. The win today was the fifth for Brighton in six head-to-heads with Manchester United and comes at a time when they just started strongly affiliated with new manager Fabian Hürzeler.
Both entered the match against the backdrop of opening-weekend wins, as Brighton always had the look of the side with early intent. The first real effort from either side came around the 10-minute mark when João Pedro let fly from the edge of the box. Solid but unspectacular, Manchester United had a golden chance of their own as Amad Diallo wasted a perfect Diogo Dalot cross at the back post.
Even with seven new signings and possibly more before the end of the transfer window, Brighton called upon a dash of experience as the deadlock was broken by Danny Welbeck. A cross from Kaoru Mitoma found the striker, a former player at Manchester United, who bundled the ball home in the 31st minute. United reacted and thought that they had got one back within minutes as Marcus Rashford turned in from point-blank range but he was adjudged offside.
United failed to raise any tempo for the rest of the first half and were second best in the early part of the second. Brighton nearly doubled their lead when a header from Welbeck struck the crossbar first. Slowly but surely, United got back into their rhythm, and on the hour, Diallo scored with a deflected shot following a slide-rule pass by Noussair Mazraoui.
The game opened up completely thereafter as both teams went out to get the vital winning goal. United felt they had received it when Zirkzee converted from a shot by Garnacho, but the flag went up for offside against him.
Coming in the 95th minute, with the game looking to be heading for a draw, João Pedro rose unmarked to head in a chipped cross from Simon Adingra, sending the home fans into rapture. So, Brighton’s perfect start under Hürzeler goes on, but Erik ten Hag will rue some soft defending in the dying moments once again.
