Brighton & Hove Albion have enjoyed plenty of giddy highs since ascending back into English football’s top division, from successive wins over Manchester United to a home humbling of Arsenal, though this may be the victory they have enjoyed most to date. Crystal Palace, their perceived derby rivals, were humiliated by a team who had been reduced to 10 before the half–hour. The home fans revelled in a night of complete superiority.
The players conducted a lap of celebration after the final whistle with Lewis Dunk, a local, whipped up into a joyous frenzy. “We showed character,” said Brighton’s captain. “The win is for the fans. They have the bragging rights. I hope they enjoy it.” The memory of the bedlam of the latter stages of the first half, when Brighton had led by three and lost a man, will live long in the memory.
There was ruthlessness to admire, most notably from the substitute, Florin Andone, whose charge on to Bernardo’s clearance deep into first-half stoppage time had yielded the third to remove all belief from Palace. The forward ran past the retreating James Tomkins, who simply could not keep up, conscious as he was that he had just been booked. Andone eventually cut back inside the centre–half and, via the defender’s toe, slammed in his side’s final goal.
It summed up Palace’s slapdash defending that Tomkins’ inadvertent touch had actually made the angle kinder from which to convert though, by then, they had long since become frazzled by a game of catch–up. Brighton were organised and robust throughout, their 10 men beaten only when Leon Balogun tripped Wilfried Zaha late on for Luka Milivojevic to score a consolation from the spot.
“It was probably one of our proudest wins, so special,” Chris Hughton said. “We knew we’d have to defend well but I ended up being disappointed they got the penalty. I know they had a lot of the ball, but I felt we deserved the clean sheet.”
Despite that late riposte, the hosts had never properly been threatened. Of all the teams against whom to defend a lead en masse, Palace, so horribly blunt without a true focal point to their attack, are one of the more inviting. They have actually been leaning heavily on their own defensive surety, so their capitulation was cause for real concern given the relegation scrap into which they have descended.
Palace were justifiably incensed at the decision to award the penalty which opened the scoring. James McArthur reached the ball to poke it away before José Izquierdo collided with him and crumpled to the turf. Yet Aaron Wan–Bissaka and Milivojevic should already have cleared, the pair tangling in mid–air and deflecting the loose ball into the box. And there were no excuses for everything that followed.
Glenn Murray, a player who has represented both clubs and prospered for each, thumped in the spot–kick but, moments later, would damage his shoulder tumbling under a Tomkins’ challenge in the same box. That appeared a clearer foul but, as players squared up while Murray was receiving treatment, the referee, Kevin Friend, spotted Shane Duffy plant his forehead firmly into Patrick van Aanholt’s face a few feet away to prompt a red card.
Briefly, Palace’s hopes had lifted as Duffy trudged away without complaint, though this game had long since ripped up any conventional script. Brighton flung on Balogun to reinforce their back line before Solly March took the corner awarded for Tomkins’ tackle, with the centre–back unmarked just inside the area to volley in a loose ball 25 seconds after his introduction.
“The second goal is something we have to take total responsibility for, and the third even more so,” Roy Hodgson said. “It wasn’t even an attack. It was a clearance. There’s no point allowing the penalty to disturb the way you want to play irrespective of whether you disagree with why it was given.”
Brighton, victorious in a top-flight fixture between these teams for the first time since 1981, confirmed one supporter had been ejected for apparently throwing a pie at Zaha. This was the stuff of nightmares for those from south London.
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