Goodbye Goodison Park from Albion? Everton 1-1 Brighton photos
These photos from Everton 1-1 Brighton could well be the last that are taken by Albion fans visiting Goodison Park.
The historic home of the Toffees since 1892 is due to close at the end of the season with Everton moving into their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock for 2024-25
So unless building work overruns or the Seagulls are sent to Goodison in the FA Cup, this was goodbye from Brighton to one of the most famous old grounds left in the world.
Not that the Albion will mind. Their record visiting Goodison is awful, with just two wins in 121 years. Which is why a point on this occasion should be seen as a good result.
It becomes doubly so when you factor in the presence of Sean Dyche in the Toffee’s dugout. Dyche has always been kryptonite to Brighton with his two most recent encounters against the Albion resulting in Everton winning 5-1 at the Amex and rock-bottom, soon-to-be-relegated Burnley leaving with a 3-0 success.
Another long afternoon looked like it could be in store when the Seagulls defence were all too slack as Everton took the lead inside of seven minutes.
Bart Verbruggen parried a Vitaliy Mykolenko shot straight back to the Ukrainian, who subsequently lashed in via a deflection off Lewis Dunk at the second attempt.
Quite how or why Mykolenko was allowed so much time and space to have two bites of the cherry remains a mystery.
Lewis Dunk thought he had levelled shortly after when striking a brilliant first time volley from a Pascal Gross free kick beyond Jordan Pickford.
VAR however took a look and ruled the goal out for offside, finding that Evan Ferguson had strayed by a millimetre even though he played absolutely no part in the goal.
From that point on, the Albion had to be patient as they tried to find a way past every blue shirt positioned behind the ball.
The moment eventually came when Kaoru Mitoma was found on the left by Mahmoud Dahoud. The Japanese Bullet Train headed towards the line, from where his cross was turned into his own goal by Ashley Young to give Brighton a share of the spoils.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Everton 1-1 Brighton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
