Brighton 1-1 Everton: Beto scores late equaliser to deny Seagulls Premier League victory

  /  autty

Beto's late equaliser snatched a point for Everton at Brighton, with the Seagulls dropping points after conceding a late goal for a second game in a row.

With the last kick of the game against Fulham last weekend, Brighton were beaten by Harry Wilson's free-kick. This time, it was a rebounded effort that saw them drop two points.

Jake O'Brien's initial effort was pushed away by Bart Verbruggen but Beto - who was celebrating his 28th birthday - turned home the loose ball as Everton once again came from behind away from home to take a point.

There had been a brief VAR check for offside against James Tarkowski, but he was deemed to not be interfering with play and the goal stood.

The Brighton players looked distraught afterwards and were met by loud boos from the home fans at full-time, with their winless Premier League run stretching to four games.

It had looked to be a fairy-tale win too, with Pascal Gross putting Brighton ahead with his first goal since returning to the club on January 2.

It was a simple finish, turning home Yasin Ayari's cross. Credit too has to go to Charalampos Kostoulas, who left the ball for his team-mate to slot home.

Brighton thought they had scored a second not long after too, but Kaoru Mitoma's effort was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.

Despite the nature of it, a draw was probably a fair result. It was a game of two halves, with Brighton the better in the first and Everton improved in the second.

In truth, it couldn't have gotten much worse for the Toffees, who registered no shots in the first 45 minutes and an xG of zero. They had their first shot in the 52nd minute and it was a decent one too with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - making his first start since December 6 after injury - firing wide.

Although Everton conceded their first away goals since December 13, and miss out on a fourth successive clean sheet on their travels, they sneak up into eighth place in the Premier League table on 34 points. They are just four points from the top four. For Brighton, they drop into 13th place on 31 points.

More to follow.

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