Brighton 2-2 Southampton: Goals at last but a fourth Amex win eludes

Well, we scored. Before kick off, most Albion fans would have considered it a good afternoon at the Amex if the Seagulls could simply do one of those goals things. Brighton being Brighton, they managed to delight the crowd by scoring twice and yet still frustrate by blowing a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Southampton.

The home win count for the season remains stuck on three. Watford in August, Leicester City in September and Brentford on Boxing Day are the only sides who have left Sussex with nothing to show for their efforts.

Three remains the club record for fewest home victories in a season, set by the class of 1997-98. They of course only avoided relegation out of the Football League thanks to Doncaster Rovers being the worst side to ever play professional football in England.

If Brighton fail to win their final two Amex matches against Manchester United and West Ham United, Graham Potter could find himself in the quite incredible position of overseeing the joint-worst home campaign in Brighton history at the same time as securing the highest ever league finish if the Albion exceed 13th. Work that one out.

Brighton 2-2 Southampton really should have provided win number four to make the two above paragraphs redundant. The Saints were there for the taking as the game approached half time.

By the midway point of the second half, Brighton were the ones hanging on for dear life and a 2-2 draw as Southampton were on top. Where did it all go wrong?

Maybe the Albion are simply cursed to never win when they host Southampton? The draw meant Brighton have now beaten the Saints at home just twice in 19 attempts stretching back 65 years to 1957.

Thank God this is not an actual South Coast Derby or a heated rivalry as Sky Sports like to tell the world, otherwise it would be one of the most one-sided in the football world.

Brighton could not have asked for a better start when taking the lead after 76 seconds. Good news for Danny Welbeck, bad news for anyone caught up in the traffic and travel chaos and who were unable to take their seats within two minutes of kick off as they missed a first Amex goal for 96 days.

Potter switched from a back three to a back four, giving Marc Cucurella a bit more licence to attack as a left back rather than one of three central defenders.

Cucurella put that to immediate good use, delivering a low cross into the box. Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster and defender Mohammed Salisu did a wonderful Chuckle Brothers impression under pressure from Enock Mwepu and Welbeck was on hand to fire home from a matter of yards.

The lively Tino Livramento rattled a post when charging forward with purpose after a quarter of an hour. A stretching Che Adams threw himself into the air like some sort of circus contortionist to reach the rebound but he merely ended up looking like a fish out of water, getting nowhere near the ball to the Albion’s relief.

That was Southampton’s only real chance until the fourth minute of first half stoppage time. Brighton were dominant and could and should have put the game to bed.

Even Warren Aspinall – a commentator known to be of the glass-half-empty persuasion – was purring at the prospect of the Albion racking up three or four based on how poor the visitors had been.

It took an excellent tackle from Kyle Walker-Peters to deny Mwepu as The Computer was about to pull the trigger. Next, an aggressive press from Neal Maupay won possession for Leandro Trossard to weave his way down the left.

The Vampire of Genk meandered past Oriel Romeu and crossed for Welbeck, who saw his effort blocked by Forster.

Maupay could not bundle the loose ball home; and it would not have mattered if he had as referee Robert Jones decided Maupay had committed a foul in his attempts to do so.

Knowing how much Brighton struggle to score in front of their own fans, Southampton were extremely generous in doubling the Albion’s lead for them with a wonderful own goal on 44 minutes.

Welbeck was brilliant in the build up, charging inside from the right hand touchline and using he outside of his boot to perfectly switch play into the path of Trossard.

Trossard hit a low diagonal pass into the box which Welbeck was about to latch onto at the back post, only for Mohammed Salisu to fire past Forster and make it Brighton 2-0 Southampton.

There is no better time to score than a minute before half time… unless of course you then manage to concede a silly goal in the 49th minute with the interval seconds away.

Quite what Brighton were doing at that stage in the first half with only Cucurella and Lewis Dunk remaining at the back is a mystery.

Cucurella subsequently had to take one for the team, wiping out Nathan Tella on the edge of the Albion box to pick up a deserved yet required yellow card.

The problem with conceding a free kick in such a dangerous position rather than allowing Tella a shot on goal is that the Saints possess arguably the best set piece taker since Sky invented football in 1992 within their ranks.

Up stepped James Ward-Prowse, the Brighton wall fell apart like Berlin in 1989 and the ball was bent into the side of the goal Robert Sanchez was meant to be protecting.

From 2-0 up and cruising, the Albion were now going into the break with their lead cut in half and facing 45 minutes against a Southampton side buoyed by their late strike.

Potter had an important team talk to give to help Brighton reassert the authority they had shown for most of the first half. Whatever he said did not work, as the Albion looked determined to throw the game away.

Passes from blue and white shirts continually went to players wearing black. The Saints dominated the midfield and it came as a surprise to absolutely nobody when an equaliser arrived on 54 minutes.

Ward-Prowse showed the Amex that his skills are not just restricted to scoring free kicks. His second of the afternoon came from open play, rounding off a good move started when Adam Webster passed straight to Romeu.

The French midfielder worked it out wide to Nathan Tella, who was allowed to run a little too easily down the right hand side of the Brighton defence.

Tella than played inside to the unmarked Romeu, one back heel later and the ball was in the path of Ward-Prowse to strike from 25 yards into the bottom corner and make it Brighton 2-2 Southampton.

It was a poor goal to concede. Things might have become even worse for the Albion without an excellent full stretch leap and catch from Sanchez, flying to his left to hold onto a Shane Long shot. Who even knew Long was still playing?

With Southampton getting a lot of joy down the Albion’s right, Potter decided to bring Pascal Gross on at right wing back. Had Graham enjoyed one too many merlot with his Sunday roast?

That came as part of a double change and a round of positional musical chairs of the sort we used to enjoy when Potter Roulette was at its height during his first two seasons at the helm.

Gross replaced Webster; Solly March came on for Enock Mwepu as a left wing back; Cucurella, Dunk and Joel Veltman formed a back three in a formation adjustment. Keeping up? Good.

Not that it made too much difference. Southampton continued to control and it was not until the 70th minute that the Albion registered their first chance of the second half, Forster holding a March effort.

The Albion grew in confidence from that and they might even have won it. To say the officials had an interesting afternoon would be a slight understatement, so it came as little surprise that VAR decided to stick its beak in and deny Brighton a winner.

Trossard found Gross who had drifted into the middle. The German playmaker bought a zipped pass under control expertly, turned and cracked one into the bottom corner from outside the box.

A fine goal which was ruled out because a wobbly line drawn on a television picture found Gross to be a millimetre offside. It remained Brighton 2-2 Southampton.

For the first time in his life, Gross had been too quick to speed past the Southampton backline. It denied him a first of the campaign – and potentially his last in an Albion shirt if a new contract is not agreed before the summer – and Brighton all three points.

Had the Albion won, it would have been harsh on Southampton. The Saints enjoyed more possession, shots and were the better side for much of the second half. Take off the blue and white tinted spectacles and the draw was the right result.

Brighton though should have wrapped things up in the first half. The wait for a home win goes on – and there will not be many better opportunities for the Albion to get that particular monkey off their backs than when leading 2-0 against Southampton.