Sheffield Utd 0-5 Brighton: Seagulls move up 7th to heap misery on 10-man Blades

They booed and they screeched and they unleashed their fury at Stuart Attwell, the beleaguered referee who found himself in the firing line.

Sheffield United’s fans wanted a scapegoat and Attwell was the perfect target. It was he – if you followed and believed the noise – who had changed the course of this game and made their fight against relegation look even more foreboding.

Perhaps in days to come the locals we realise their mistake. When you are battling to stay float, the last thing needed is one of your own flying through the air to torpedo your plans. Attwell’s fault? Don’t be daft. Mason Holgate’s indiscipline is where this latest sorry Sheffield tale must begin.

Yes, we will focus in good time on the patterns of passing and ruthless finishing of a Brighton team that are relentlessly determined to qualify for Europe once again and give head coach Roberto De Zerbi something to consider this summer when he will undoubtedly be festooned with offers.

They were brilliant, particularly in the second half when their ball retention and patience chipped away and eroded Sheffield’s belief, to the point that the dam burst and a face-saving 2-0 scoreline became a 5-0 skewering. It is the third consecutive home game they have conceded that many.

But the preamble to the beauty was a beastly lunge, something so wild that Jamie Redknapp, on Sky Sports, described it as “one of the worst I’ve seen in years”. He wasn’t alone in that view. Holgate’s good fortune is that he didn’t do lasting damage to Karou Mitoma.

A visit from Brighton was always going to require Chris Wilder’s team to answer searching questions but they had started brightly, with captain Anel Ahemdhodzic forcing Bart Verbruggen into action. Brighton play beautifully