Southend 0-1 Brighton: LuaLua leaves it late for Seagulls

Kazenga LuaLua's injury-time winner secured Brighton & Hove Albion a narrow 1-0 win at Southend United in the first round of the Capital One Cup.

The Shrimpers were on top for prolonged periods at Roots Hall but were unable to find a way past Seagulls goalkeeper Niki Maenpaa.

And the Championship club capitalised by bagging a last-gasp winner, with LuaLua on target.

Before that late drama, Brighton had come close to bagging an early opener when Danny Holla's 25-yard free-kick was parried around the left post by the Shrimpers' highly-rated goalkeeper Daniel Bentley.

Southend hit back after the break and should have opened the scoring when a free-flowing move resulted in Ryan Leonard heading John White's chipped right-wing cross wide of the left post.

With the home side remaining on top, substitute Myles Weston soon also came close to scoring when his well-struck 16-yard shot was smartly smothered by Maenpaa diving to his left-hand side.

But the Seagulls shot-stopper then pulled off a stunning save in the 87th minute when he somehow pushed a well struck 25-yard effort from Anthony Wordsworth wide of the right post.

The save proved to be crucial as Brighton immediately responded to bag an injury-time winner when Holla played in LuaLua, who raced in behind White before coolly firing past the advancing Bentley with an assured low shot.