Brighton avenged their recent FA Cup penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester United by claiming a late 1-0 win thanks to Alexis Mac Allister's dramatic stoppage-time penalty
 United, hoping to consolidate their place in the top four, were dealt the decisive blow when referee Andre Marriner was sent to the pitch-side monitor by VAR in the 99th minute of an otherwise goal-shy encounter, awarding a last-gasp spot-kick for a Luke Shaw handball
Mac Allister, roared on by a raucous Amex Stadium crowd, held his nerve to thump the ball beyond the clutches of David De Gea, in turn moving Brighton above Tottenham and Aston Villa, while leaving United looking nervously over their shoulders
"In the end if you can't win because you can't finish, you don't lose," Erik Ten Hag lamented
The Seagulls' chances of catching United and scraping into the Champions League spots remain extremely slim, with Ten Hag's side eight points better off, but a top-five finish is a distinct possibility going into a hectic final month of fixtures - Roberto De Zerbi's side are four points adrift of Liverpool with a two-game advantage
"I think there is a god of football," the Brighton boss beamed
 "We played a fantastic game
"It was a stunning late twist - one that could play a significant role in who gets to enjoy the rigours of continental football next season, and in which competition
"If you get beaten, you want to have revenge," Ten Hag warned pre-match
 So it proved
A breathless opening, full of risk but no reward, saw Antony squander United's most presentable chance after only two minutes, before Kaoru Mitoma followed suit by striking his opportunity against the face of De Gea
The game ebbed and flowed, end-to-end at times, with Jason Steele called into action to deny low efforts from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, while De Gea was also kept honest by the trickiness of both Julio Enciso and Mitoma
Much the same as the meeting at Wembley 11 days prior, Brighton offered more consistent threat, but were failing to discover much cutting edge
Emotions ran high throughout, fuelled by Brighton's supposed FA Cup injustice and stoked by the fiery temperaments of both Bruno Fernandes and Antony - the latter one of eight names to be taken by referee Marriner
In the end, fortune favoured the brave
With time running out, and Ten Hag's side seemingly content with a point, the hosts continued to pour forward in search of a breakthrough
 Substitute Solly March, who missed the decisive spot-kick in that semi-final defeat, lashed wide and De Gea superbly denied Moises Caicedo's curler
The contest grew increasingly feisty before Shaw inexplicably handled a corner, clawing the ball away from the head of Lewis Dunk and, after Marriner had belatedly pointed to the spot, De Gea flung himself one way while Mac Allister's strike went the other
"We deserved to win today and we deserved to win the semi-final," De Zerbi concluded
The triumph represents the Italian's twelfth league win as Brighton manager in his 26th game in charge, equalling the number of victories managed by Graham Potter in the entirety of last season
"I am really happy, really delighted for the performance, for the result
"I think there is a god of football because we deserved to win in the semi-final and we lost on penalties, here we won with a penalty for us
 Both games I think we played better than United and the last result was unfair
"We played a fantastic game, we dominated the game against one incredible team, one great team
 But I think my players deserved to win
"Asked what this says about what Brighton can achieve this season, De Zerbi, keen to focus on the next game at home to Everton on Monday, replied: "At the moment, nothing
"He added: "We are to play another six games, six very tough games, and on Monday we will play the first game, very tough against Everton, and we have to win because if we do not win against Everton we lose these three points
""In the first minute we create a great chance but we do not score so we have to be more clinical with the chances that we create in the first half
"We had the chances, clearly
 Antony, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Casemiro
 One has to go in
 But if you cannot win it because you do not take your chances, do not lose it
 We gave away a goal, maybe we lose a little bit of focus
 That cannot happen
"Also, we were a little unlucky because it was never a free-kick that the corner was coming from
 There were so many bad tackles tonight where there was no whistle and this was nothing, a fair block, and there is a whistle
"We cannot bounce back [on the night] but that is what we have to do on Sunday
" continue their quest for European football when they host relegation-threatened  on Monday May 8, kick-off 5
30pm
  head to  on Sunday at the later time of 7pm
May 8:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 5
30pmMay 13:  (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 18: (A) - Premier League, kick-off 7
30pmMay 21:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 2pmMay 24:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on May 28:  (A) - Premier League, kick-off 4
30pmMay 7: (A) - Premier League, kick-off 7pmMay 13: (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 20: (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pmMay 25: (H) - Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live onMay 28:  (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4
30pmJune 3:  (N) - FA Cup final, kick-off 3pm
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