Brazilian striker Joao Pedro headed home in the fifth minute of injury time to give Brighton a 2-1 win over Manchester United at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
After United failed to clear a corner, Pedro was on hand to head home a cross from Simon Adingra to secure a second straight victory for Brighton at the start of the season under new coach Fabian Hurzeler.
It’s a result that will be extra tough for United to take as the visitors had a potential winner ruled out in the 70th minute for an fractional offside.
Alejandro Garnacho’s shot from a tight angle was heading into an empty net when it deflected off the knee of the sliding Joshua Zirkzee just before it crossed the line – causing the goal to be ruled out as the Dutch striker was in an offside position.
Zirkzee had come on as a substitute to score an 87th-minute winner against Fulham in United’s season opener but the summer signing was once again on the bench at Brighton, with Ten Hag playing Bruno Fernandes as a false nine instead.
It was a former United forward who opened the scoring, as Danny Welbeck was on hand to slot in a cross from Kaoru Mitoma in the 32nd.
Welbeck nearly doubled Brighton’s lead when his header from a corner hit the crossbar in the 58th, and United equalised from a quick counterattack just two minutes later.
Amad Diallo cut in from the right and saw his shot deflected into the net by the sliding Jan Paul van Hecke.
After the game, man-of-the match Pedro said: "First I'm very happy for the win. I think this goal at the end shows how much we wanted to win the game, first game at home against a big team. I cannot feel better than today.
"Like the gaffer said to us, we need to believe in ourselves, we know they are United, a big club, but I think everyone wants to show our power. I think this is what motivates us to fight against a big team and you never know."
New Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, who has two wins from his first two Premier League games, told the BBC's Match of the Day: "It was very emotional, always when you get the win in the last minute it is. I think we deserved to win, we had a good game not a perfect game. There were also situations where United had the chance to win the game.
"I'm very proud of the team, they showed the value of never giving up and that's very important to me.
"Their goal for me was from out of nowhere. I then didn't like the losing the control. Then after their offside goal I think we started to control the game again. In the end, I think we deserved to win."
On goalscorer Pedro he said: "I think Joao is a player who can decide the game with one action. For me it was impressive today how he worked against the ball. He had the belief he would score and that's something that makes him special. But in the end it's always a team win and that's most important."
The defeat means United boss is already feeling the pressure. After the game, he said: "If you protect the goal like we do then you drop points.
"We concede two soft goals where we should act better as a team. We have to be alive in such moments."
Defeat puts the spotlight back on the Dutchman with Liverpool set to visit Old Trafford next weekend.
