Aaron Connolly breathed a sigh of relief as he added another high to an increasingly upbeat Albion week.

The development squad striker was happy to get away with what wasn’t exactly his best penalty.

But Connolly might just have offered another example as to why he is seen as such a bright prospect on a great night for the club.

Connolly’s spot-kick squeezed past Peterborough goalkeeper Aaron Chapman to secure a 5-4 success in Tuesday’s shoot-out at the Peterborough.

It was the least convincing spot-kick of Albion’s five but, along with Billy Collings’ save from Matt Godden, did the trick.

The shoot-out gave Albion their second Checkatrade Trophy point of the night.

The first was secured by a 2-2 draw over 90 minutes which saw them come from 2-0 down against a strong League One outfit.

Following the senior team’s win over West Ham and Lewis Dunk’s England call, it was another moment for the club to treasure.

And Connolly’s rather uncharacteristic goal in the 90 minutes, picking up the ball out wide and shooting from the edge of the box, was a key moment.

That strike brought Albion back into the game after they had weathered a tricky period at 2-0 down.

The prolific Connolly enjoyed it – and admitted it was a bit different.

He said: “It was a good ball by Peter (Gwargis) to open up the space.

“He changed the game when he came on. He did well, got on the ball quite a bit.

“When he slipped me through my first thought was to come inside and hit it and thankfully it went in the bottom corner. I think that’s the first I’ve scored from outside the box for Brighton.

“If the chances come in the box, I like to put them away.”

That is seven goals already this season for Connolly.

Although the under-23s are flying high and packed with bright prospects, goal-getters inevitably attract a lot of the attention.

Not that Connolly, still only 18, should have even been in Peterborough on Tuesday night, according to some observers of the Irish game.

He should have been in Longford, preparing for the Republic of Ireland’s under-19 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday.

His omission meant he was around to produce that bit of magic at Posh, with his side 2-0 down and heading out of the Trophy going into the last 20 minutes of their second group game.

Connolly said: “We were gutted to go in 1-0 down because I thought we were on top in the first half.

“The second one went in early in the second half and it was kind of a kick to the stomach.

“Usually the game then runs away from you when you are 2-0 down to a team like that. It’s game-management and they can just keep the ball.

“But the boys have showed character all season, coming back late against Leicester, late against Arsenal.

“To do it and then get the win on pens was even better.”

Albion were very impressive against a bigger and more direct Posh side.

Although Steve Evans’ men are second in League One, the youthful Albion side fielded by his former player Simon Rusk showed them up at times.

That was not lost on Posh fans who applauded the younger visitors and offered pretty honest assessments of their own side on social media.

Albion were the better side throughout the first half and were unfortunate to trail at the break.

Rusk enjoyed their football. But he will look at the period after Jason Cummings chipped in the home side’s second goal early in the second half as perhaps his side’s most impressive phase.

Peterborough had the wind in their sails at that stage and threatened a third goal on a few occasions.

But Albion just about hung in there and regained their composure to draw level and almost win the tie in added time.

Rusk said: “I felt it was going to be an important five or ten minutes after their second goal.

“In games like this you don’t have that experience to manage that type of situation.

“We just had to hang in there, get a moment of quality – and it’s a great goal from Aaron which gets us back in the game.

“I thought the way the players managed that period at 2-0 was credit to them.”

Albion have always been strong supporters of the much-criticised Trophy and Tuesday’s experience will only reinforce that.

As with a similar comeback at Oxford a year ago, they dug themselves out of a hole without the help of over-age players.

Rusk said: “It benefits me to see our players in that environment.

“There are different types of physical challenges, there are different patterns in the game which you might not see in under-23s football.

“It is a real benefit for us and they have been good games.”

This one would have been even better for Albion had Leo Ostigard’s injury-time header hit the net rather than the crossbar. But it all ended happily from the penalty spot.

Connolly stepped up to take the winning penalty and saw it find the target despite a significant touch from the keeper.

The scorer said: “We practised penalties the day before – but not like that!

“I looked up and it went in. I was so relieved because I didn’t want to let the boys down after a shift like that. We came away to a the best possible team we could play and we competed.

“I thought we deserved to win it in normal time, let alone on penalties.”