This end of season game with Brighton and Hove Albion seemed to have 0-0 written all over it util right at the end, when a defensive mix-up from the visitors gifted us all three points.

A long list of injuries had been announced in the pre-match press conference, though Struijk was the only additional absence from the starting line-up at Spurs. Bornauw proved to be a capable deputy, though as we’re running out of central defenders the younger Cresswell had to be one of the three academy lads on the bench.

There seems to be a tradition of facing Brighton in the last home game of relegation-threatened seasons. In 1982 we staged a dramatic comeback to beat them and thought the win would be enough. It wasn’t in the end. And in 2022 a late equaliser from Struijk secured a vital point before we stayed up on the final day at Brentford.

And for most of the season it seemed ominous that again we had to play Brighton at home in the penultimate fixture, but this time there was a relaxed and celebratory atmosphere around Elland Road, complete with balloons and beachballs drifting onto the pitch, and even an inflatable dinosaur in one of the stands.

There had been a pre-match warning us not to repeat the homophobic chants of a couple of seasons ago against the same opposition, which led to the club being fined. But there was nothing to stop Brighton being the latest club to give us the tedious Jimmy Saville reference, while failing to notice that our ‘United are back’ chant is to the tune of a hit by Gary Glitter.

On the field Brighton should have had more to worry about of the two teams, as they still have a chance of getting into the Champions League if a number of things go the right way, but there performance in the first half seemed strangely lacklustre. Their best efforts came from two swerving shots from outside the area by Groß which Darlow did well to keep out, though van Hecke should have been able to bundle the rebound from the second over the line.

At the other end we had a fierce shot from James deflected wide, but the nearest we came before the break came after a cross from Calvert-Lewin needed a defensive intervention before Stach could punce on it. The clearance bounced off Dunk, and Verbruggen had to be at full stretch to make sure the ball didn’t loop over him into the net.

After the break Brighton stepped up the pressure and Ampadu had to get his head in the way of a goalbound shot from Welbeck. I’d better tell you that the visitors chalked up an XG of 2.46, for the benefit of those who care about such things, but I never thought they really looked like scoring.

Bijol had to put his body on the line a couple of times when they threatened, but otherwise they were shooting straight at Darlow, while Gomez thrashed a good opportunity well wide near the end. Farke made his first changes on the hour, with Gnonto, Longstaff and Nmecha coming on for James, Tanaka and Aaronson.

Only the last of these three was enforced, with Aaronson hobbling off, but it was described afterwards as a ‘dead leg’, so not too serious. Which is more than can be said for the next change, as Stach had to be stretchered off after initially trying to continue, when one of Brighton’s burly chaps had landed on his ankle.

Two of our substitutes were to go close, Gnonto was wide of the near post when played through on the right of the area, and another fine move ended with Piroe shooting powerfully just past the post from outside the area. The final change saw Byram replacing Bornauw as we went into injury time, so he could have a fine send-off at the end of his second spell at Elland Road.

By then the game seemed to be petering out into a draw, but there was one final surprise in store. A long ball from Byram down the left seemed to have created little danger, but van Hecke turned and played his backpass blindly, with no awareness of the players behind him.

It was underhit, and even though Verbruggen had come racing out of his area, Calvert-Lewin got to it first, and after taking the ball past the keeper had time to steady himself before steering it into the empty net. So as in 1982 and 2022 a late goal in this fixture turned the result in our favour, even though for us the result was of far less importance.

There were still a couple of minutes of injury time to survive, but we managed to hold onto the win, ensuring that the post-match lap of honour would take place in front of a joyful crowd. As Daniel Farke has said, there is work to be done to improve the squad over the summer for the next campaign, but for now he can be very satisfied with a job well done in this campaign.

Reuters