No spot of bother for Brighton and Hove Albion - but who takes the next one?

He released Jiri Skalak, the Czech winger was brought down inside the box and Tomer Hemed’s last-gasp penalty finally broke Burton’s stubborn resistance.

The manner of Albion’s victory over today’s opponents at the Amex when the teams met at the Pirelli Stadium back in September illustrates how important penalties have been to the automatic promotion challenge.

That was a vital three points off the back of a narrow home win against Huddersfield. It built momentum for the 18-match unbeaten run following successive defeats by Newcastle and Brentford, which left the Seagulls in 13th.

The value of spot-kicks, at both ends of the pitch, has been transparent ever since Hemed slotted Albion’s first of the season to complete a comfortable home win over Rotherham in August.

Both the Israeli and Glenn Murray saw off Leeds’ ten men from the spot in December.

Glenn Murray scores from the spot against Leeds

In the next home game, against Queens Park Rangers at Christmas, Murray scored the second unopposed from 12 yards in a 3-0 victory.

Hemed’s equaliser from the spot in the first game of 2017, at Fulham, was followed a minute later by Lewis Dunk’s winner.

Hemed failed with his last penalty, at Preston, although it was the last kick of the game and Albion were already beaten by then.

The emphasis has shifted to the exploits of David Stockdale since his pivotal save at 1-1 when Murray had just been sent-off in the 2-1 home win against Sheffield Wednesday.

Stockdale kept out another in the aforementioned comeback at his old club Fulham and a third in the 3-3 draw at Brentford last Sunday, which would have put Albion 3-0 down and out of contention.

Veteran third-choice goalkeeper Casper Ankergren could, however, do nothing about Lincoln City’s penalty equaliser after replacing the injured Niki Maenpaa as Albion’s second string crashed out of the FA Cup.

David Stockdale denies Fernando Forestieri from the spot

It all adds up to seven penalties awarded, six of which Hemed and Murray have converted, and four conceded, including that hat-trick of Stockdale saves.

Hemed scored five out of six last season, missing out only at Wolves. A third of his 27 goals for the Seagulls have come from the spot.

Boss Chris Hughton said: “You see top class players miss them and then you look at (Yaya) Toure at Manchester City, who never misses one.

“It shows what an art it is. There are some top class individuals that have not only missed penalties but missed quite a few.

“I’d like to think with our two main strikers, Tomer and Glenn, they are very good at what they do.”

The intriguing question is which one of them will step up if Albion are awarded a penalty against Burton again today?

Tomer Hemed saw this late effort saved at Preston

After the Leeds match, when Hemed came off the bench to take over the duty from Murray, Hughton confirmed he was first choice.

Hughton is vaguer now after Hemed’s failure at Preston. “The players going into each game are always very aware who the penalty taker is,” he said.

“The players will practise, but they are not penalty sessions. We’ve had a decent record of scoring.

“Some clubs have missed quite a few by recognised, good strikers, so it’s never easy and it’s never easy to replicate it.

“I don’t think we would do any more or less than any other club.”

The decision will be simplified if Hemed and Murray are not on the pitch at the same time, a stronger possibility now that Sam Baldock has recovered from calf trouble and Chuba Akpom has been borrowed from Arsenal.

Meanwhile, no rival is reflecting more on the way fortunes can be affected by penalties than Fulham.

The one Stockdale stopped from Stefan Johnasen at Craven Cottage is among seven out of nine failures by five different players for Slavisa Jokanovic’s play-off pursuers.

Fulham, despite losing twice, looked among the best teams Albion have played.

Their respective standings in the table would be a lot different if the penalty records were reversed.