Sheffield United 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 5: Mason Holgate's moment of madness gives Blades a mountain they cannot climb

The day started in bright sunshine with Sheffield United knowing they needed a point to climb off the bottom of the Premier League, and ended in a bruising 5-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.

For a long time Bramall Lane was a very angry place but as the crowd thinned out, it turned into an air of resignation. The Blades fought hard to keep the damage down, and still this is what happened.

Little wonder the Championship is calling.

Whatever the reasons, whatever the context, this was the third home game in a row Sheffield United conceded five goals. And to think it hard started with a touch of optimism.

Chris Basham had come out on to the pitch to lift spirits as he continues his return from a broken leg and his team-mates started promisingly when Jayden Bogle forced a save less than 90 seconds in but it took fewer than 12 minutes to go out of the window.

That was when on-loan Everton defender Holgate launched himself into a thigh-high tackle on Karou Mitoma, nowhere near the ball. Referee Stuart Attwell, bewilderingly saw it only as a yellow card but was immediately sent to the pitchside monitor by video assistant referee Michael Oliver and quickly changed his mind.

It was a good example of VAR working well, yet Attwell and Mitoma were booed throughout. It would be a long day for the referee, but even more so for the home team.

It was always going to be downhill from there.

There are some teams you can play against where being a man down is not such a bad thing. Brighton, so skilled at passing the ball at speed, are not one of them.

It did not take the Seagulls long to go in front.

Danny Welbeck and Facundo Buonanotte both came close to glancing in a Lewis Dunk cross but it was Jack Robinson who got to it, putting the ball behind for a corner. Attwell got booed for giving that too.

From it, Buonanotte had an arm around Wes Foderingham before Dunk put the ball in but it was pushing it to say he was impeded. A couple of months ago the goal would have been disallowed but there rightly seems to have been a move away from the ridiculous over-protection of goalkeepers, and the officials went with that spirt.

Angry fans got angrier still.

The actual football did nothing to cheer them up, Welbeck doubling the lead when he followed up Foderingham's save from Mitoma.

Chris Wilder withdrew his only centre-forward, Will Osula, to restore the back three his side started with but the damage had already been done. Only a stretching Foderingham save stopped Welbeck converting a Pascal Gross cross.

Attwell inexplicably turned a blind eye when James McAtee pushed Mitoma in the back with both hands in the penalty area. Maybe he thought the home side had suffered enough but it did not spare him any more grief at half-time.

To their credit, Sheffield United kept plugging away but the way things panned out only made Bramall Lane even more irate.

Shortly before half-time the Blades bundled the ball in through a combination of Anel Ahmedhodzic and Ben Osborn. The goal was given offside and Attwell headed to the monitor again.

Almost uniquely, there was no reversing of the decision this time.

Initially the officials checked for offside but what contact there was on Bart Verbruggen was even less than there had been on Foderingham, then for offside.

Osborn was behind the defensive line when the ball was played in and although the last touches before it reached him was by Bounanotte, it was discounted because it was accidental. Even if it was Ahmedhodzic who put it in, you could hardly say his team-mate was not interfering with play.

Once upon a time, football was a simple game.

The Blades tried to make the best of what they have, Foderingham looking straight for his makeshift No 9 James McAtee to sprint behind the back three.

Inevitably, though, the bulk of the chances were the other end, a combination of the goalkeeper and his near post keeping Mitoma out.

After 50 minutes keeping the damage to 2-0, the Blades finally buckled in the 75th minute.

Robinson put a Mitoma cross through his own net and within 10 minutes, three had become five, for the third successive game at Bramall Lane.

African Cup of Nations winner Simon Adringa marked his return to the Premier League with a good finish from a Gross cross which was behind him, then thundered a shot which deflected in off Trusty.

Thankfully, the punishment stopped there, matching the Burnley defeat 23 hours earlier which had created a chink of hope for the team trailing them.

It is going to be a long 13 games until this punishment is over.

Sheffield United: Foderingham; Bogle, Holgate, Ahmedhodzic, Robinson, Larouci (Brooks 63); Osborn (Norwood 80), Costa, Hamer (Davies 80); McAtee (Brewster 80); Osula (Trusty 30).

Unused substitutes: McBurnie, Grbic, Arblaster, Blacker.

Brighton and Hove Albion: Verbruggen; van Hecke, Dunk, Webster (Julio HT); Gross, Buonanotte (Ferguson 66), Gilmour, Lamptey (Moder HT); Adingra, Mitoma (Fati 76); Welbeck (Estupinan 81).

Unused substitutes: Baleba, Steele, Veltman, Baker-Boaitey.

Referee: S Attwell (Nuneaton).