Bournemouth 0-2 Brighton: Teen spirit ends Albion’s Cherries curse

The curse of the Cherries is over. Two teenagers who were still in very short trousers the last time the Albion won a league game at the Vitality Stadium scored the goals as it finished Plucky Little Bournemouth 0-2 Brighton.

2007 was the year of that previous success, Dean Cox and Bas Savage the match winners. Julio Enciso was was aged three and growing up in Caaguazu, Paraguay, Evan Ferguson a two-year-old native of Bettystown, County Meath.

Normally, there is something about visiting Bournemouth which turns the Albion into jelly. Two victories from countless attempts over 30 years in this part of the world means the 96 mile trip for the “south coast derby” is often made with trepidation.

It is testament to Roberto De Zerbi and his young players that none of that mattered to them. If Brighton are suddenly capable of winning at places which are a historical graveyard, suddenly anything seems possible.

Whisper it quietly, but that now includes qualifying for the Champions League. Bournemouth 0-2 Brighton moved the Seagulls to within four points of Tottenham in fourth.

The Albion have two games in hand on Spurs, who they visit this Saturday. Win those and repeat last season’s 1-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Brighton would be five ahead.

With matches still to come against Newcastle United and Manchester United, the Seagulls have to now be taken seriously in the race for the top four.

De Zerbi and co will not fear facing any of those sides when they keep picking up results from the most difficult of assignments, of which Bournemouth very much was one.

The head coach is so confident in his charges to state publicly prior to heading for the Vitality Stadium that Brighton could beat Bournemouth even if they played at only 90 percent of their potential. De Zerbi was wrong; the Albion were probably at no more than 80 percent and yet they still got the job done.

They had to weather long periods of Cherries pressure which they would have previously wilted under. Not so any more. De Zerbi has introduced far greater resilience stemming from belief that Brighton can beat anyone.

The mentality of the players has subsequently been transformed from what it was under Glow Up Graham Potter; we are no longer told that a 0-0 draw with Norwich City is a fantastic achievement. Nothing less than three points will do.

Ferguson set the Albion on their way with a superb opening goal just before the half hour mark. Pervis Estupinan and Kaoru Mitoma linked up down the left and when the former’s first attempt at a cross was blocked, the latter collected the loose ball and steered a low pass into the box.

Initially, it appeared to be behind Ferguson. The 18-year-old was calmness personified, however, producing an absolutely outrageous back heel into the bottom corner which caught Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto, the 21 other players on the pitch, both benches and everyone else inside the stadium by surprise.

Every goal Ferguson scores shows another side to his game. We have seen strength and power against Arsenal, intelligence at Everton, aerial ability at Leicester and close control and awareness for the first of his brace in the 5-0 FA Cup win over Grimsby.

This time, it was improvisation and cheek. Ferguson is five different strikers all rolled into one and he is still a teenager.

It is frightening to think what he could achieve in his career and Albion fans should consider themselves very lucky to be watching him begin his journey to greatness.

Bournemouth responded with three good chances in quick succession before the first half was out. That they did not equalise was down to Jason Steele thoroughly earning his clean sheet bonus, not to mention 18 holes at Singing Hills and a few pints in the pubs of Hove on his day off.

Steele parried away a Dominic Solanke strike, rushed from his line to force Hamed Traore into shooting wide and then got behind another Solanke effort.

Adam Webster justified his recall for Levi Colwill with a superb sliding block as Traore attempted to fire home the rebound.

Brighton had far less control of possession than De Zerbi would have liked in the second half and that led to a frenetic game with chances at both ends.

Pascal Gross drilled a pass into the feet of Ferguson, who swivelled to find a yard on the edge of the box and bent an effort just wide.

That was a difficult chance; less so, the next opportunity which came the way of Ferguson, when he lifted wastefully over the bar from 12 yards after being fed by Solly March.

Between those two efforts, Steele pulled off his best save of the night when going full stretch and getting just enough of a finger onto a Jefferson Lerma volley to tip it over the bar.

Lewis Dunk had put his disappointing performance in the weekend draw with Brentford firmly behind him with some vital interceptions as Bournemouth began to further threaten.

With the Albion under increasing pressure, De Zerbi made a bold set of substitutions. Ferguson being withdrawn for Danny Welbeck made sense, but De Zerbi also opted to replace Alexis Mac Allister with Enciso.

How many managers with their side under the cosh defending a 1-0 lead would chuck on a teenager from South America in an attempt to turn the tide and go and get a second goal? That it finished Bournemouth 0-2 Brighton tells you what an inspired decision it was from De Zerbi.

The changes impacted the game even before Enciso struck late on. Neto had not had much to do up to that point, save for being flummoxed as everyone else was by the Ferguson back heel.

Suddenly, the Cherries goalkeeper was asked to pull off three top class saves. He kept out a powerful Gross volley, plunged to his left to palm away a Welbeck shot and denied Mitoma following a wonderful turn from Enciso.

Moises Caicedo leaving proceedings in enough pain for there to be a tear in his eye was a concern but the Albion were able to make light of their key midfielder’s departure by making it Bournemouth 0-2 Brighton in stoppage time.

Gross spotted the sort of gap only he can and threaded the ball through the eye of a needle to Enciso. The 19-year-old displayed supreme close control, some clever skill to work around Illia Zabarnyi and was then calmness personified in not rushing his final effort, using all the time and space afforded to find the bottom corner.

The travelling support sang about a European tour. De Zerbi said afterwards that the players now believe they can achieve Europe.

Brexit might well mean Brexit, but Brighton are doing everything in their power to arrive in continental competition in the autumn of 2023.

Did you ever think that possible? Did you ever think winning at Bournemouth was possible? What a time to support the Albion.