Making one change from their defeat to Chelsea last week, Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton line-up contained 11 different nationalities, a club-first, under a sun-swept AMEX Stadium.
It was a stop-start affair in the opening exchanges as both sides took a while to settle in. That was until the quarter-hour mark when Leeds burst into the lead.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header was parried after being picked out by Nico Elvedi, but Ao Tanaka was on hand to slide the ball across the face of goal for Jayden Bogle, who fired home into an empty net.
That goal marked Leeds’ first at Brighton since November 2012, with the Whites failing to net in eight away meetings since.
Leeds should have doubled their lead before the half-hour mark, but Calvert-Lewin saw his effort cleared off the line by Lewis Dunk, before Tanaka rifled a shot off the crossbar.
Brighton finally began to grow into the contest soon after, as James Trafford had to be alert to get down low and stop Diego Gomez’s powerful strike from the right side of the box.
Daniel Farke’s men started the second half strongly and had a great opportunity to net a second less than 10 minutes after the restart.
Ethan Ampadu’s long throw caused chaos in the box, and the ball fell to Anton Stach, whose fierce effort was saved by the feet of Bart Verbruggen.
The Whites did have the ball in the net after Tanaka poked it in from Stach’s free-kick, but the Japanese international was denied by the offside flag.
Those moments came to haunt Leeds as Brighton levelled the scoreline with just over a quarter-hour remaining. Maxim De Cuyper’s corner kick was nodded in from close range by Luka Vuskovic, who showed great strength to hold off his marker.
And Pascal Gross could have snatched all three points with time running out, yet he failed to keep his shot down after a loose ball fell kindly to him in the box.
Nonetheless, it will feel like points dropped for Farke’s men, who have now won just once in nine H2H meetings.
Hürzeler’s side have registered a one in each result column to start their PL campaign, but remain unbeaten in their three home games this season, including their European endeavours with a gruelling schedule about to begin.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion)