Manchester United beat Brighton with last-gasp Bruno Fernandes penalty

It was an occasion when Ole Gunnar Solskjær was reminded of the adage about how it is better to be a lucky general. His Manchester United team got their first points of the Premier League season after a heavy-legged performance that lacked direction for long spells and a finale that could be best described as bonkers but what made the difference for them in the final analysis was the framework of David de Gea’s goal.

Almost ridiculously, Brighton rattled the posts and crossbar a total of five times, with Leandro Trossard doing so three times. The Brighton attacker will surely find himself as the answer to a trivia question in years to come relating to the most unfortunate of hat-tricks. Adam Webster and Solly March were also denied. Since Opta began compiling statistics for hitting the woodwork in 2003, no team had previously done so more than three times in a single Premier League game.

United thought that they would be denied the execution of one of the all-time heists when March headed Brighton level in stoppage-time. To say that it was the least they deserved was the understatement of the sporting year.

But there would be one last twist. United forced a corner, Bruno Fernandes took it and Harry Maguire saw his free header cleared off the line by March. The referee, Chris Kavanagh, promptly blew the final whistle. And then bedlam took hold. Maguire argued that his header had flicked off Neal Maupay’s hand and Kavanagh would be advised by his video assistant to go and check the pitch-side monitor. Forget Fergie time. This was beyond even that.

When the replays began to be shown, it was clear that the ball had hit Maupay’s hand. Kavanagh gave the penalty and Fernandes stepped up to break Brighton’s hearts.

There was so much to concern Solskjær here, on the back of the dismal home defeat to Crystal Palace last Saturday. United looked as though they were wading through heavy mud at times – their defending was loose and risky, they made errors on the ball and it was frequently so ponderous in an attacking sense. And yet they got away with it.

Poor Brighton. They dominated the first-half and, after United not only equalised through a Lewis Dunk own goal but somehow got themselves in front through Marcus Rashford, they continued to ask them questions. Trossard was denied by De Gea at point-blank range before March finally got the equaliser. It was not enough.

United were smarting after Palace, the dressing-room inquest having been loud and extensive, and Solskjaer was after a repeat of his team’s performance here from June when they surged to a 3-0 win. That was United at their best, full of pace, ideas and incision, and the manager repeated his line-up and the 4-2-3-1 system.

Harry Maguire leads the protests to referee Chris Kavanagh who blew the final whistle before checking his pitchside monitor and awarding Manchester United their matchwinning penalty for a handball by Neal Maupay. Photograph: Getty Images

This was a different United, undercooked after a non-existent pre-season and fighting to locate a bit of tempo and cohesion. They limped out of the blocks and it was hard to understand how they were level at half-time.

The evidence of Brighton’s first-half superiority was stamped all over the little details and it looked at times as if they wanted it more than United, although perhaps that was a consequence of their better fitness. March won an upper body duel with Maguire as they chased a ball towards the sideline, which should not happen; Maupay charged across to close down a Victor Lindelöf clearance. Brighton brought the hustle, United were a beat too slow.

Brighton’s opening goal had been well signposted and it came when Fernandes got his bearings wrong inside his own area and made the foolish decision to lunge at the rapid Tariq Lamptey. It was a clear penalty and the only decision for Kavanagh was whether to show Fernandes a second yellow card; the United midfielder had been booked earlier for a frustrated hack at Maupay. Kavanagh spared Fernandes and it was left to Maupay to mete out the punishment with a gloriously executed Panenka.

The headline detail of what had gone before was Brighton having been denied three times by the woodwork. Trossard got into good areas around the United area and he rattled both posts with fierce left-footed shots, with De Gea beaten on both occasions. Webster also looped a header on to the top of the crossbar from a Maupay cross.

Up until that point, Solskjær’s team had done precious little in the final third, save for one dangerous Fernandes cross and a lovely move taking in quick feet by Anthony Martial, a Rashford pass and a Mason Greenwood finish. Sadly for them, Rashford had strayed offside.

United got their lifeline just before the break when Fernandes hammered over a free-kick and Matic turned it inside from the far post towards Maguire, with the ball going in off the unfortunate Dunk. It was an excellent assist by Matic.

United had to be better in the second half and they were, although Paul Pogba diced with disaster in the 48th minute when he lent on Aaron Connolly and the Brighton striker went down theatrically. Kavanagh awarded the penalty. VAR would overrule him.

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Brighton were the more joined-up team, finding better spaces but United’s front three will always give them the chance of conjuring something. Rashford thought he had made it 2-1 with a cute finish from a Greenwood cross only for VAR to pull him back for offside but he did get his goal shortly afterwards.

It was a showcase of his pace and composure. Fernandes released him with a lovely ball – Brighton were distraught to be caught on the counter – and he beat Ben White one way and then the other, twisting him to distraction, before firing past Mat Ryan. Back came Brighton. March hit the inside of the post and Trossard lashed against the crossbar before they thought they had salvaged the point. United had one final ruse.