Mason blew his whistle twice having realised goalkeeper Sam Johnstone was not ready.

He then changed his mind and gave the goal before VAR intervened and eventually pulled the game back for Dunk to retake the free-kick because the ball had not crossed the line when Mason blew for a second time.

Defeat, thanks to Kyle Bartley's early winner, left Brighton four points above the relegation zone after Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck missed penalties.

Lallana told the club's official site: "I was involved in the game at Anfield last season where Lewis did the same thing and the goal stood. I know it can happen, VAR have made the decision and we have to get on with it.

"We created enough chances not just to draw, but to win the game. We can talk about decisions all you want, but it's old news now, it's happened and we have to move on. We need to move on and carry on being relentless. Things will turn.

"You can miss penalties, but you have to keep going. We've had good performances recently but we're not winning, so we need to look at ways we can improve.

"We need to keep at it but we have shown how good we can be in recent weeks. We've got more than enough in our squad to get the points we need to stay in the league."

The second-bottom Baggies earned just their third win of the season to keep their slim hopes of beating the drop alive and they are nine points from safety after Newcastle's draw with Wolves.

"It's a massive win especially given that it was against one of the teams around us," Bartley told the club's official site.

"We were lucky enough to be able to swap sides because of the sun in the first half and we wanted to take full advantage of that and, thankfully, we did.

"There was a bit of confusion about their goal from the free-kick but in the end, I think the referee came to the right conclusion and handed the situation well.

"At another stage of the season we could've lost, but luck went our way and you have to be there to capitalise on that."