Brighton 1-0 Bournemouth: Late Mitoma magic pops the Cherries

For 87 minutes, it looked like the Albion were going to experience another of those frustrating afternoons against their bogey side. This Brighton team though have been turned into something different by Roberto De Zerbi, with the biggest evidence so far being that they can now even beat Plucky Little Bournemouth 1-0 via a late, late winner.

Just the name Bournemouth strikes fear into the hearts of Albion fans. Rarely do Brighton ever get a result against the Cherries, be that because of abject performances from players, terrible refereeing decisions or questionable tactics from managers.

The 5-0 hammering at the Amex in 2019… Dale Stephens at right back and Solly March and Leandro Trossard crossing balls into the box for Aaron Connolly and Neal Maupay whilst Glenn Murray sat on the bench… Mike Dean getting Yves Bissouma and Lewis Dunk confused and issuing a second yellow card to the Brighton captain… you get the point. It never goes well against the Cherries.

Forget beating Liverpool twice in 15 days or humiliating Chelsea or being victorious at Old Trafford – Brighton winning 1-0 against Bournemouth is the biggest result of the season so far, being precisely the sort of game at home against struggling opponents the Albion fail to win.

Combine De Zerbi making Brighton victorious in the games Graham Potter never could with the Albion’s already decent record against the better sides in the Premier League and suddenly, you find yourself googling the best karaoke bars in Poznan on a Thursday night.

It is a bloke from Asia who is doing more than most at the minute to drive the European dream. The sign of a good player is someone who makes a difference even when they do not play well and Kaoru Mitoma was far from his electrifying best in Brighton 1-0 Bournemouth.

Not once in the first 85 minutes did he dribble the ball past an opponent. He failed to have a single shot on target in the time. But when it mattered, he came to the fore by scoring a brilliant header with three minutes of normal time remaining to give the Albion three precious points.

De Zerbi said afterwards of Mitoma: “He has natural quality. Today he didn’t play a fantastic game, but when you have Mitoma on the pitch you can never substitute him because you always expect one goal.”

And one goal is what he delivered, making it six in nine appearances for the Japanese international. Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister might reasonably expect to be the subjects of serious summer interest, but with each passing week it becomes more likely that Mitoma will be the man going for a club-record fee to one of the European Super League Elite Six. He is a wonderful footballer.

Caicedo was understandably the name everyone was looking for on the team sheet when the Albion’s starting XI was announced.

Having been placed on gardening leave last week following his new agent’s ill-advised attempts to force through a move to Arsenal, De Zerbi opted to leave Caicedo on the bench in a re-jigged line up.

Tariq Lamptey started at right back. Joel Veltman came in at centre half alongside Lewis Dunk. Billy Gilmour and Pascal Gross made up the midfield two with Caicedo amongst the substitutes and Mac Allister suspended. And the biggest surprise of all was a full Premier League debut for Deniz Undav alongside Danny Welbeck.

Undav was involved in the biggest talking point of a first half which was low on entertainment. Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto attempted to play a pass out but succeeded only in giving the ball straight to Undav on the edge of the Cherries penalty area.

The German striker saw his first shot blocked by Chris Mepham. The ball came back to Undav, who now had an entire goal to aim at from six yards out.

Somehow, he put his shot straight at Neto. Never mind, the ball again fell back to the feet of Undav. Now five yards out and with Neto lying on the ground, he could not miss. Except he could, hitting the post. Three misses in the space of 10 seconds which made Undav look like Aaron Connolly on crack.

It was a shame really as that succession of squandered opportunities overshadowed what was otherwise a good performance by Undav.

He showed some nice touches and linked play up well. He also deserves credit for not letting that incident unduly impact his confidence in the remaining 75 minutes, as it could well have done.

Bournemouth should have scored when a lovely one-touch passing move left Gilmour all at sea. Jaidon Anthony pulled a low cross back to the unmarked Jefferson Lerma but he put his effort wide when having just Robert Sanchez to beat.

Other than those two astonishing misses, the highlight of the first half came when the North Stand burst into the Caicedo song in response to De Zerbi’s request for fans to show support to the wantaway midfield.

The only problem being that they were singing it to Odel Offiah (nephew of rugby player Martin) warming up rather than Caicedo.

De Zerbi turned to Caicedo early in the second half, introducing him alongside Jeremy Sarmiento in a double change with Gilmour and Welbeck making way.

Having done their fair share of attacking in the first half, Bournemouth by this point seemed content to settle for a point.

Their final chance of the match came when Veltman was beaten on a quick counter and it needed Pervis Estupinan to make a flying last man block to divert a Antoine Semenyo one-on-one away for corner.

The importance of that intervention was evidenced by Sanchez celebrating it like a man who has just won the lottery. Following it, the Cherries began time wasting at every opportunity, much to the frustration of the Amex.

De Zerbi made another double change with 15 minutes to go, introducing Julio Enciso and 18-year-old Argentinian forward Facundo Buonanotte for his debut. Thoughts and prayers went out to Warren Aspinall on BBC Radio Sussex trying to pronounce that name.

Even with so much attacking youth on the pitch, it still looked like Brighton were going to have to settle for a point. Some sections of the ground clearly expected nothing more as the Amex began emptying ahead of the final five minutes.

It is a risky game to abandon this Brighton side under De Zerbi, however. They are so exciting because they can score at any time from anywhere and so it proved when Mitoma finally made an impact on proceedings.

First Sarmiento threaded a ball through a gap for Mitoma running in from his left wing. Mitoma’s shot with the outside of his right boot was instinctively kept out by Neto.

No matter. Less than a minute later and Gross worked the ball to Sarmiento who had switched positions with Mitoma and was now stationed on the left.

Sarmiento checked inside and delivered a curling cross straight onto the head of Mitoma, who leapt like the proverbial salmon to produce a powerful header which Neto got a hand to but could not keep out.

For the second home game running, Mitoma had won it at the death for the Albion. De Zerbi sprinted onto the pitch whilst the Amex exploded in celebration, the noise hardly diminishing throughout the few minutes remaining as the Seagulls saw the game out.

Brighton were nowhere near the best but as the saying goes, the greatest teams find a way to win even when they are below par.

And if Brighton can beat their bogey side Bournemouth 1-0, anything seems possible.