Tomer Hemed scored for the first time since playing against Italy for Israel earlier this month
Brighton needed a late Tomer Hemed penalty to get past a dogged Burton Albion side in the Championship.
The Israel striker calmly converted after Jiri Skalak had been sent tumbling in the area by Jackson Irvine.
Hemed and team-mate Bruno also went close, while Irvine forced David Stockdale to save well.
Brighton's Lewis Dunk headed against the bar eight minutes after the break from Skalak's corner as Burton failed to carve out many good chances.
The victory, which kept Brighton in the top six, was the club's second successive 1-0 win, having inflicted a first defeat of the season on leaders Huddersfield on Tuesday.
Having lost their opening two games of the season, Burton had gone into the match unbeaten in their previous five league encounters, but offered little in terms of clear-cut chances against last season's beaten play-off semi-finalists.
Hemed had a first-half shot that was easily saved, while Bruno and Anthony Knockaert both missed the target for the Seagulls and Brewers forward Jamie Ward stung the palms of Stockdale on the stroke of half time.
Brighton turned the screw on their hosts after the break following Dunk's brush with the frame of the goal as Hemed shot wide and Shane Duffy headed over after a ball in by Knockaert.
But Brighton finally broke through with three minutes left as Hemed scored for the first time since the EFL Cup win at Oxford United on 23 August.
Burton boss Nigel Clough: "It's unbelievably frustrating. We have lost three games now by the odd goal and we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
"We contributed to the defeat giving the ball away on the halfway line and we don't need to give Brighton a helping hand.
"They are the best side we have played this season. To hang on in there until the 87th minute with organisation and will not to concede a goal and then to give one away in those circumstances is difficult to take."
REACTION: Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough speaks to BBC Radio Derby
Brighton manager Chris Hughton: "We had to really fight for that today. They came into the game with a few injuries but they played to a game plan.
"I don't think anybody would deny that we deserved to win the game. The later the game went the more we thought that it wouldn't be our day but we just had that little bit of something at the end to win it.
"When it gets that late in the game, we certainly felt that we should have put the game to bed earlier than that but you have to give Burton credit, they worked very hard and had a few opportunities themselves."
- Published14 January 2018
- Published7 June 2019
