Igor Thiago scored one penalty and had another saved by Bart Verbruggen as Brentford were beaten 2-1 by Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.

The Bees led at the interval thanks to Thiago’s 29th-minute spot-kick, but the Seagulls hit back in the second half through Danny Welbeck and substitute Jack Hinshelwood. Brighton keeper Verbruggen was equal to a second Thiago penalty in stoppage-time to deny Keith Andrews’ side a point at the Amex.

Andrews made one change to the team that beat Newcastle United 3-1 before the international break: Kristoffer Ajer replaced Aaron Hickey at left-back, with the Scotland international named among the substitutes.

Both sides moved the ball with purpose as the rain lashed down on the south coast.

Caoimhín Kelleher was the first goalkeeper called into action. Having advanced into the area, Yankuba Minteh teed up Mats Wieffer with a backheel and the full-back drilled hard and low towards goal. Kelleher covered his near post well and pushed the ball away.

Minteh swung the resulting corner into the box and Georginio Rutter’s glancing header dropped on the roof of the net, while Welbeck and Diego Gómez both blazed over the crossbar from just inside the box

Rutter cut inside and let fly from 20 yards, but his shot lacked conviction and was comfortably held by Kelleher.

Then came a turning point. Kelleher's goal kick into the right channel was flicked on by Dango Ouattara to Thiago, whose return ball for the winger allowed him to race into the Brighton box.

Chasing back on a sodden surface, Baleba mistimed his challenge and brought Ouattara down, leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot.

Brentford’s go-to guy this season, Thiago made no mistake from 12 yards, stroking the ball into bottom corner and sending Verbruggen the wrong way in the process.

Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (14) has more Premier League goals this season than Thiago's nine.

Buoyed by their opening goal, Brentford remained on the front foot. Ouattara's corner was cleared only as far as the edge of the box and Yehor Yarmoliuk volleyed just wide of Verbruggen’s left post.

Kelleher was equal to Rutter’s strike from a tight angle in the final action of the first half.

Brighton passed up a big opportunity 10 minutes after the restart. Wieffer’s cutback struck Sepp van den Berg and dropped kindly for Welbeck, who snatched at his shot despite having a clear sight at goal.

Keane Lewis-Potter, on for Ouattara, had a shot from distance well held by Verbruggen as Brentford looked to soak up the Seagulls’ pressure and hit their hosts on the counter attack.

Minteh burst past two Bees defenders and saw his effort from close to the byline pushed over the crossbar by Kelleher.

Brighton levelled on 71 minutes. The lively Minteh swung in a cross from the right and Welbeck peeled off Nathan Collins to finish first time from the centre of the box.

Following a Brentford corner, Ferdi Kadıoğlu charged from one end of the pitch to the other and flashed a shot just wide of Kelleher’s right post.

Michael Kayode’s strike from 20 yards was then gathered by Verbruggen after Thiago had done brilliantly to hold the ball up and bring the full-back into play.

Brighton completed the turnaround on 84 minutes. Minteh’s shot was blocked by Hickey and the ball sat up perfectly for Hinshelwood, who drove low beyond Kelleher.

Kayode’s cross was headed wide by Schade as Brentford looked to snatch a point late on.

In the second minute of stoppage-time, Lewis-Potter crossed from the left and Schade was pulled down by Maxim De Cuyper.

The referee again signalled for a penalty, but Verbruggen guessed right this time, diving to his right and gathering the ball at the second time of asking to keep the Seagulls’ lead intact.

Brighton and Hove Albion (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Wieffer, van Hecke, Boscagli (Dunk HT), Kadıoğlu; Baleba (De Cuyper HT), Ayari; Minteh (Gruda 89), Rutter (Veltman 89), Gómez (Hinshelwood 69); Welbeck

Subs: Steele, Tzimas, Kostoulas, Coppola

Brentford (4-3-3): Kelleher; Kayode, van den Berg, Collins, Ajer (Hickey 80); Henderson, Yarmoliuk (Jensen 80), Damsgaard (Janelt 80); Ouattara (Lewis-Potter 65), Thiago, Schade

Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Onyeka, Nelson

Andrews: No blame for Thiago following penalty miss

Brentford head coach Keith Andrews backed striker Igor Thiago after the Brazilian's penalty was saved in second-half stoppage-time at the Amex.

"Igor’s fine, I haven’t spoken to him too much yet but he’ll be absolutely fine," said Andrews.

"He’s in a good place, he’s scoring a lot of goals and playing very, very well. He scored again today.

"It’s difficult for the [second] penalty. It’s difficult for penalty takers in general now from when it’s given to when they actually take it, the time that it takes.

"There’s zero blame attached to Thiago for that penalty."

Van den Berg rues ‘silly mistakes’ in Brighton defeat

Sepp van den Berg expressed his frustration after Brentford’s 2-1 loss to Brighton.

“The whole game we were not good,” said the defender.

“We managed to score one goal, but even in the first half I don’t think we were good enough.

“Silly mistakes, easy things didn’t go well. [We conceded] two easy-ish goals. In the second half, they came out the dressing room a lot better than us. They had more energy, and I think they were on top

“Of course, if we’d score the penalty and got away with a point it would have been nice, but in general it was not good enough.”