David de Gea told his Manchester United teammates they once again left it too late to kill the game off - despite beating Brighton at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils came into the match with the Seagulls having drawn three successive games 1-1-, all in which they threw away a one-goal lead.
History was in danger of repeating itself on Tuesday night as United failed to build on Cristiano Ronaldo ’s opener until the last kick of stoppage time.
Ronaldo had put his side in front with his ninth of the Premier League season, ending his longest goal drought in 13 years in stunning fashion.
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But after that, Ralf Rangnick’s side were once again guilty of missing chances, even after Lewis Dunk saw red in the 54th minute.
And it took until the 97th minute for United to completely seal their first victory in four, with Bruno Fernandes netting the vital second.
But De Gea, who pulled off a wondersave to deny Jakub Moder before half-time was left frustrated by the fact their opponents remained in the game right until the end.
“I was there saying ‘come on, we have to kill the game,’ because, in the Premier League, you never know. Even with 10 players, they can score,” De Gea told MUTV.
“So it was too late the goal, but at least we scored the second goal. We should have scored much earlier, we had a couple of good chances and then you suffer when you don’t score the goal. You don’t kill the game, you suffer.
“They are a good team, they know how to play, but this is football. We win the game and we are happy.
“To be honest, I think we had the control of the game in the second half. The first half wasn’t the best, they had a couple of good chances but then we reacted very well in the second half.
“We scored a goal, we got the red card for them. Even like this, we gave a couple of chances at the end.”
Before Fernandes’ crucial second, former United striker Danny Welbeck had a golden chance to equalise, putting a free header wide of the post.
And De Gea, who kept United’s second Premier League clean sheet since December 11 praised the result - if not for the overall performance.
"Yeah, he had a massive chance to be honest, so he missed the chance and then we scored the goal from Bruno and we kill the game,” the Spaniard explained.
“I think we started to press more high in the second half. We made them play less from the back, so we pressed high.
“It was difficult for them to get out because they like to have the ball and then Cristiano scored a great goal and, from that, they get the red card and we control the game until the last 10 minutes when they have a couple of chances.
“But, like I said, the performance was so-so but the three points are massive.”
The victory saw United move back into the Premier League’s top four, ahead of West Ham, although Arsenal, Wolves and Tottenham could all move ahead of them, should they win their games in hand.
