Young Brighton will be better for getting bitten by Wolves

I did wonder when driving down to the Amex on Saturday if this would be another one of those days when Brighton drop a clanger against a side in the Premier League relegation.

The answer to that was of course, yes. Two points were lost despite the Albion leading 2-0 with just five minutes plus injury time remaining.

But even with such a disappointing result, there were still positives to take. The biggest being that this young Brighton side and manager will learn from their mistakse.

I am sure it will not happen again. If it does, then everything Fabian Hurzeler said in his post-match interview about learning from it will be pure nonsense.

There were very few experienced players on the pitch for the Albion when Wolves scored their two late goals to battle back and claim a point.

How different might it have been with Danny Welbeck, Lewis Dunk or James Milner out there? Just one wiser head could have helped better decision making all round as the Albion poured forwards with seconds remaining, lost the ball in a four-on-one and then failed to defend Wolves’ break.

Dunk pulled out injured in the warm up. Watching back the highlights and the Albion TV commentator gives it the kiss of death before kick off.

“Hurzler will be hoping the necessary late change to his line up and his captain missing out is the only thing that does not go to plan this afternoon,” the commentator said. How wrong he was.

Wolves did not play like a side with only one point on the board so far. Early on and Matheus Cunha beat Joel Veltman to cross into the box.

Thankfully, Tommy Doyle failed to keep his shot down and fired high into the North Stand. He nearly took the pie man out, as Warren Aspinall likes to say. Gary O’Neil had his head in his hands, knowing Doyle should have at least hit the target.

Brighton mustered their first attack when a great cross from Jan Paul van Hecke was headed onto the roof of the net by Danny Welbeck.

It was great to see Welbeck playing and captaining Brighton, especially after the back injury and visit to the Newcastle Royal Infirmary last Saturday.

Kaoru Mitoma had an effort deflected wide. From the resulting corner, the ball found its way to Carlos Baleba. He let a shot go from some 30 yards which looked like it had been fired from a cannon. Even more impressive was the save from Jose Sa to deny Baleba.

Brighton made the breakthrough just a few minutes before half time. A poor long ball forward from Sa went straight to Ferdi Kadioglu, who was able to move forward.

Kadioglu slipped in Georginio Rutter. Another pass late and Welbeck was in on goal, clinically beating Sa with a brilliant finish.

Most of us in the East Upper thought part two would bring more goals, although nobody was sure for which team. There was always that nagging though that the wolf might bite us on the backside.

Wolves were better in the second half and Bart Verbruggen had to make some great saves to keep the Albion ahead.

Hurzeler tried to stir Brighton back to life with a flurry of substitutions. On came Evan Ferguson, Brajan Gruda, Mats Wieffer and Tariq Lamptey.

Two of the players introduced by Hurzeler soon combined to give the Albion a 2-0 lead. Lamptey broke down the right and found Ferguson, who turned on a sixpence and fired into the bottom corner.

It brought to an end an Ferguson’s 11 month wait for a goal, at the same time of reminding everyone what he is capable of.

And so in the 85th minute, Brighton led 2-0. I have said many times in my three seasons writing for WAB that it is never over until the fat lady sings.

That ended up being very much the case here. Wolves pulled one back in the 88th minute when a corner ping-ponged around the box.

Rayan Ait-Nouri slammed home in a moment which seemed to totally derail the Albion. Much to the surprise of Brighton fans and Wolves fans, some of whom I noticed running off with their tails between their legs after Ferguson scored for the Albion. Those supporters must have had a shock when they heard what happened after they left the Amex.

It could have been an oh-so-different outcome when Gruda found Wieffer to lead a break alongside Julio Enciso, Yasin Ayari and Ferguson.

All Wieffer needed to do was play a pass to a blue and white shirt and avoid the one Wolves defender. But he gave the ball straight to that one Wolves defender.

Brighton were now overloaded at the other end. Cunha received possession and did not need any help from a teammate, shooting low along the deck. It beat Verbruggen with the help of a deflection off Van Hecke. 2-2 with seconds to go.

As a relatively established Premier League club now, the Albion have to stop dropping home points against sides who arrive at the Amex in the bottom three.

But at least we know Brighton tend to play better against opponents towards the top. Good news ahead of two games in four days against Liverpool.

Imagine if Brighton could beat the Redmen twice…

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony