Carrick and Man Utd left red-faced after 50-year record broken in Brighton defeat

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FT Desk

Manchester United lost after being two goals ahead at Old Trafford on Wednesday, and that hasn't happened since Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of St Mirren.

In the League Cup fixture, the Red Devils initially blew Brighton away in the opening stages and found themselves two goals up within the first 10 minutes.

Shea Lacey enjoyed a moment he'll never forget, scoring his first senior goal at Old Trafford with a blistering left-footed strike into the corner from the edge of the box. A few minutes later, Mason Mount made it 2-0 with a bouncing effort high into the net after some decent work from Marcus Rashford.

Brighton grew into things as the half went on, however, and clawed a goal back just before the break after Charalampos Kostoulas broke beyond the United backline to latch on to a lovely diagonal from Jaouen Hadjam. The Greek striker scored under debutant Karl Darlow, who really should have come out earlier to collect the initial long ball.

For Brighton's equaliser, a headed clearance down the pitch from Luka Vuskovic fell straight at the feet of Pascal Gross, who showed composure to dance around a tackle and place a strike in the bottom right corner.

The Old Trafford crowd was beginning to feel nervous as Fabian Hurzeler's side were undoubtedly in the ascendancy, and they eventually got their third and winning goal in the 69th minute.

Kostoulas was involved again as he hit the byline before reversing a pass inside the box for Maxime De Cuyper, who found a finish to the right of the keeper to make it 3-2.

Remarkably, the result marked the first time in half a century that Man Utd lost at Old Trafford after being two goals ahead.

The last time it happened was in September of 1976 when they lost 3-2 to Tottenham.

United have won one, drawn one and lost two of their opening four matches in the Premier League season and caretaker boss turned permanent manager Michael Carrick will be feeling the pressure, even if he won't say so publicly.

"I don't feel under pressure," he said post-match. "Either way, that doesn't bother me one bit.

"I understand what goes on outside and how the world works, but it doesn't bother me. What bothers me is winning games, having a good feeling around the place and a good feeling around the group to know we're moving in a good direction."

Man Utd have a tough schedule over the next month or two, as well, as before the middle of November they’ll take on Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, Leeds, Como, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Roma, Aston Villa and Liverpool, among others.