Other results show it was a good point at Leeds
Brighton visited Elland Road for a match against the Peacocks in a great place as recent performances have been absolutely incredible.
The football has been exciting and there have largely been plenty of goals too, like last week when the Albion put four past West Ham.
Leeds was always going to be a difficult place to visit. Some real greats of the game have played for them down the years and the crowd at Elland Road when it gets behind their team is their 12th man.
We all know that in any kind of sporting arena, you get days or games when things do not go as well as you hope. That was the case against Leeds as although Brighton played some good football, a couple of errors cost them all three points.
However, any point away from home is a good one. You only have to look at the results of the Albion’s rivals for European places to see this.
Arsenal gave Brighton a helping hand by beating Fulham 3-0. Bournemouth were 1-0 winners against Liverpool. Brentford went down 1-0 away at Everton.
All in all, drawing 2-2 at Leeds took us up a slot in the league to seventh place and now 39 points. If Brighton beat Crystal Palace at the Amex in midweek, the table will be looking very good by the time of the FA Cup quarter final tie against Grimsby Town at the Amex this Sunday.
I was an Albion Online Virtual Away Supporter for the match at Elland Road with budget cuts meaning it was a Saturday spent in North Sussex rather than North Yorkshire.
BBC Radio Sussex as always did a great job in bringing the action to those of us not in Leeds with Johnny Cantor, Warren Aspinall and Adrian Harmes keeping everyone up to date.
Our commentators reported early on that the Albion were a little sloppy with their passes and not being quite as clinical as they had been of late.
A few chances were not converted by Brighton whilst Luke Ayling made his presence felt for the Peacocks twice in a matter of minutes. His second attempt was beautifully intercepted by Kaoru Mitoma and then saved by Jason Steele.
Brighton took the lead on 33 minutes thanks to some great work by Pascal Gross down the right. He turned, crossed and Mitoma headed back across the goal to leave Alexis Mac Allister a simple header which he dealt with beautifully to beat Illan Meslier.
It was a goal created by brilliant football and which gave us another classic line from Warren: “Gross rolled his opponent like a tin of John West Salmon”.
The Albion were not ahead for long. A ball on the right was lost by Joel Veltman. It looked as if it was going to roll out of play, only for Jack Harrison to keep it in.
Harris squared to Patrick Bamford, who let a shot go from a few yards outside the penalty area. It flew like a bullet over Steele, hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing in.
The Peacocks now had their tails up and raced forward again through Bamford. This time, his shot went into the side netting.
Alexis Mac Allister then missed a sitter just before half time when shooting wide from 12 yards out after a good run and cross down the left from Mitoma.
Johnny told us after the referee’s whistle had blown that Brighton have not been at their best in the opening 45 minutes, which sounded like a fair comment.
The second half did not begin in much better fashion. Steele was called upon to make a great save, getting his right hand to a low effort and just managing to push it past his post. Leeds were putting on the pressure and Elland Road was becoming noisier.
It was against the run of play slightly when the Albion took the lead with 61 minutes played. Yet another dangerous run and cross from Mitoma bumped around the Leeds defence and Meslier before finding its way into the back of the net.
Initially, it looked as though March had helped put it over the line. Eventually, the final touch was credited to Harrison and so it went down as an own goal.
That spurred Brighton on. A surging run from Pervis Estupinan and cross could not quite be turned in by Evan Ferguson. March had a left footed half volley saved by Meslier diving to keep it out of the bottom corner.
Danny Welbeck came on and almost scored twice. A piece of brilliance saw him beat a defender but the finished product was not quite there as it flew too high and wide.
Welbeck then nearly steered the ball past Meslier with the Leeds goalkeeper doing well to get a touch and divert the ball away.
I was surprised that Wilfried Gnonto only started on the bench for the Peacocks. In the Leeds games I have watched on television, he has been one of their most creative players. I was therefore a little wary when he replaced Crysencio Summerville on 66 minutes.
Gnonto was involved in the Leeds equaliser 12 minutes later. He took a quick corner to Jack Harrison, whose turn and shot from the left dipped high and fast over Steele and into the night.
Brighton appealed that there were two balls on the pitch when the corner was taken. However, the good was allowed to stand. Some say the Albion were caught napping; I say after seeing the goal that it was really a bold shot which paid off for Leeds.
The Peacocks might have won it late on. Adam Webster was already in great pain after an earlier challenge and still managed to save the day, preventing Leeds from breaking and scoring a third.
And so the final whistle blew with it finishing Leeds 2-2 Brighton. The Peacocks strutted off the happier of the teams with Albion not having the best of days and yet still gaining a point and moving up a place in the table.
Now for Wednesday evening. Up the Albion.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
