Luke Shaw had not put a foot wrong all night and then raised his hand.
The Manchester United players at least avoided a rendition of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' but they could not avoid defeat at Brighton again.
United have a new manager and new players - only four starters lined up for the 4-0 drubbing at the Amex last May. Three hundred and sixty two days on from last season's nadir, Brighton continue to have the hex over United.
Read more: United player ratings vs Brighton
One win in 11 against the Premier League's top 12; seven of them defeats. This was one of United's bitterest, lost deep into stoppage-time - the 99th minute - the period they are supposed to snatch victory. Brighton were the only team intent on winning when the fourth official signalled five additional minutes.
Now United's Premier League season is in danger of collapsing at the final hurdle. Liverpool are breathing down their necks, four points behind, and United only have one game in hand, to be played in the final week of the season.
The ball grazed Shaw's hand from a corner and was missed by the referee but as soon as Andre Marriner approached the monitor Shaw knew the outcome. Just as predictable was David de Gea would be beaten from 12 yards. Alexis Mac Allister, the first to convert in the FA Cup semi-final shootout last month, did so again.
United have still not won at the Amex Stadium with a crowd present, their three wins within three months in 2020 coming at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was not another supine surrender at a ground where they conceded seven goals in their past two losses but they ceded any authority they had.
For the fourth time, Moises Caicedo bossed United's midfield and again Erik ten Hag's game management was awry. United dropped their pursuit of Caicedo in January 2021 and dropped the ball. The Ecuadorian was dynamic again.
Little attempt was made by Ten Hag to counter Brighton's growing dominance, with Christian Eriksen unused, and in the scramble that came from Shaw's handball, Brighton had three goalscoring opportunities inside 10 seconds.
A point at Brighton would have been a positive. Roberto de Zerbi tossed a water bottle twice, the second in added time. Though he was sensing a missed opportunity, the sponsors elected Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele the man of the match.
That does Brighton a disservice and flatters United. Steele's stops were straightforward, trumped by De Gea's denials of Kaoru Mitoma and Mac Allister. De Gea's performance will be remembered more for another penalty flying past him.
This was a richer contest than the anxious FA Cup semi-final 11 days earlier and another goalless scoreline would have been a travesty. Again, it was decided by a spotkick.
The game brimmed with aggression that was often spikier on the touchline. There were eight bookings and somehow no red cards. Ten Hag was uncharacteristically demonstrative, at times antagonised by his opposite number De Zerbi.
On one occasion, Ten Hag's rage bemused the fourth official and he began chuckling. De Zerbi suggested he had been punished for similar outbursts. Adam Lallana, not even on the Brighton bench, heatedly engaged with the United manager.
Had Antony put the ball the other side of the post in the second minute then United might have ended their Brighton hoodoo. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial's shot selections gave Steele a prayer. On the same pitch where the pair fired blanks and then were involved in some friendly fire from Jose Mourinho five years ago, similar questions linger.
"If Weghorst scores, we're on the pitch," chirped the United supporters upon the Dutchman's 84th-minute entrance. It is now two goals in 26 games for Weghorst.
Bruno Fernandes roamed to open up different angles and his vertical passes often eluded the imposing Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster yet Rashford, often darting infield, failed to kill the ball; additional evidence an elite centre forward capable of retaining the ball would be transformative.
Rashford and Martial switched at the start of the second half and within five minutes Ten Hag was dissatisfied with the former's positioning. Ten Hag slapped his thighs in exasperation and admonished the lethargic Martial for seemingly failing to press with urgency.
Ten Hag later cursed a Martial miscontrol. Martial's stretch without a 90-minute outing in the Premier League was prolonged as he made way for Weghorst.
De Gea and Martial were the survivors of United's first two visits to Falmer in 2018 and both were in gloves. Martial was the only outfield player with the extra layers in temperatures of 13 degrees and the sky bluer than the Brighton crest for the entire first half.
Initially, the phlegmatic Ten Hag was the polar opposite to the firebrand De Zerbi. Ten Hag's hands were still stuffed into his pockets as he turned and shook his head disapprovingly following Antony's misfire.
The histrionics from De Zerbi and his assistant Andrea Maldera eventually rubbed off on Ten Hag, who snapped when Rashford was trod on by Pervis Estupiñán, berating the linesman, the fourth official and then the referee. Weghorst offered Maldera some choice words after Casemiro was carded and the pair clasped hands.
"What is this? F-----g hell," Ten Hag enquired when Billy Gilmour avoided an obvious yellow card in the 64th minute. A minute later, De Zerbi was entitled to pose a similar query when the booked Casemiro lunged at Caicedo. Those flashpoints were the precursor to melees on the pitch and on the touchline when Antony maliciously hacked Mac Allister. The Brazilian was soon hooked to a soundtrack of boos. The Brazilian responded by patting the United crest.
Whatever De Gea's limitations with the ball at his feet, at set-pieces and outside the area, he retains an aura in one-on-ones and Mitoma smacked the ball flush in his face in the third minute. Jack Butland was so convinced he would replace De Gea for his United debut he removed his tracksuit top and bottoms but soon pulled his bib back on.
Butland saved a Brighton penalty last season.
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