The Ivory Coast international, who joined Palace on loan from Aston Villa last week, began Sunday’s contest at the Amex Stadium on the bench – but, having emerged from it on 56 minutes, took scarcely five minutes to make his mark.
Seizing on a loose header near the halfway line, Guessand picked the ball up and drove towards the Brighton defence, before slipping the ball through perfectly for Sarr, who duly dispatched it with aplomb.
“When the players fight for maybe 60 minutes or even more, they are more tired, and me, on the bench, \[had\] more fresh legs,” Guessand reasoned, speaking to Palace TV.
“I think we saw this today because as you said, after I came onto the pitch, we scored.
“The bench sometimes is important to the team, and today we saw the result. Hopefully in the future we’re going to have more victories, because I think we deserved it.”