Brighton 2 Wolves 2 - Report

Although they were not expansive or exciting, Wolves were defending well as the half-time whistle beckoned.

But an error with Jose Sa’s distribution led to a Brighton chance, which Danny Welbeck dispatched clinically.

Wolves made attacking changes in the second half and were far more dangerous, but they could not find a way through a stubborn defence.

Evan Ferguson’s strike then seemed to take the game away from Wolves, but Rayan Ait-Nouri dragged them back into the contest with a goal just three minutes later.

Wolves threw players forward and made it count late on, as Cunha notched his fourth goal of the season.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil made one change to the Wolves side that lost to Manchester City last time out.

Tommy Doyle came in for his first Premier League start of the season, replacing Andre.

Sa kept his place between the sticks, while Sam Johnstone did not travel despite returning to training this week following an adductor injury that kept him out of the City game.

Before kick-off, O’Neil said Johnstone ‘wasn’t feeling quite right’ and did not travel with the team.

Brighton were boosted by Welbeck’s inclusion, who was deemed fit to start the game despite suffering a back injury against Newcastle last week.

Lewis Dunk was due to start the game but suffered an injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Igor Julio.

The first chance of the game came when Ferdi Kadioglu whipped in a dangerous cross towards Pervis Estupinan, but Nelson Semedo did well to turn it behind for a corner.

From the resulting set piece, Brighton put Wolves under some pressure but the back five stood firm.

Wolves created a golden chance when Ait-Nouri released Cunha down the left, who cut it back for Doyle just inside the box, but he fired high and wide.

Welbeck then had a header that had Sa scrambling, but it was over the bar.

Brighton began to dominate the game as Wolves sat deep in their defensive shape. A strong shot from distance by Carlos Baleba forced a save from Sa.

Toti Gomes then made a potentially goal-saving tackle in the box as the hosts pushed for the opener, before Sa made a good save at the feet of Kaoru Mitoma.

Brighton deservedly took the lead on the stroke of half-time and it was an avoidable goal from a Wolves perspective. A terrible kick out from Sa saw the ball land at Kadioglu’s feet, he found Georginio Rutter, who slipped in Welbeck behind Craig Dawson and his shot found the bottom corner.

That meant Wolves entered the break losing 1-0.

As the teams emerged for the second half, Wolves switched to a 4-4-2 and brought on Pablo Sarabia and Carlos Forbs for Toti and Mario Lemina. For Sarabia, it was his first minutes in the Premier League since August 25.

Brighton started the game strongly but once Wolves forced a corner they created a chance when Jorgen Strand Larsen peeled away for a near post header, but it was straight at goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Sarabia almost handed Brighton a goal with a terrible midfield pass, but Santi Bueno and Dawson did well to deny Welbeck.

Wolves created a well-crafted chance when a brilliant Dawson pass found Sarabia and his equally brilliant through ball released Cunha, but his low shot across goal was wide.

Moments later, Cunha forced Verbruggen into a save with a near post shot.

But at the other end Wolves were opened up too easily and Estupinan was in, before a wonderful last ditch tackle from Semedo.

The visitors were pushing for an equaliser and Larsen came close when he met Cunha’s cross but his header was claimed by the goalkeeper.

Dawson and Larsen both went close with aerial chances as Wolves kept pushing.

But Wolves’ hopes were dashed when Ferguson was found in space on the edge of the box, turned and found the bottom corner.

Despite that, just three minutes later Ait-Nouri finished when the ball fell for him following a corner, to restore some late hope for Wolves.

The visitors piled players forward looking for an equaliser and found it in the 93rd minute in the most bizarre of circumstances.

Brighton had a four-v-one situation but Doyle intercepted the ball and played a fabulous forward pass to find Cunha. He raced forward and went alone, seeing his shot deflected and into the net, to send the away end into raptures.

That goal earned Wolves just their second point of the season and dragged them off the bottom of the table.

Key Moments

GOAL 45 Welbeck with the opening goal

GOAL 85 Ferguson makes it 2-0

GOAL 88 Ait-Nouri drags Wolves back into the game

GOAL 93 Cunha salvages a draw for Wolves

Teams

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, Bueno, Dawson, Toti (Sarabia, 45), Ait-Nouri, Doyle, J.Gomes (Guedes, 90), Lemina (Forbs, 45, R.Gomes, 94), Cunha, Larsen (Andre, 94).

Subs not used: Bentley, Lima, Doherty, Bellegarde.

Brighton: Verbruggen, Veltman, van Hecke, Julio, Estupinan, Kadioglu (Gruda, 71), Baleba (Wieffer, 79), Ayari, Mitoma (Enciso, 88), Rutter (Lamptey, 79), Welbeck (Ferguson, 71).

Subs not used: Steele, Cahill, Adingra, Moder.