Soccer Football - Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton - The American Express Community Stadium, Brighton, Britain - February 24, 2024 Brighton & Hove Albion's Lewis Dunk scores their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) -Lewis Dunk scored in the 95th minute to cancel out Jarrad Branthwaite’s opener for Everton as Brighton & Hove Albion rescued a point in a 1-1 Premier League draw on Saturday, preserving an unbeaten home run stretching back to August.
Dunk headed home from a cross into the box, planting the ball in the far corner and out of the reach of a diving Jordan Pickford, denying Everton what would have been a precious three points in their fight against relegation.
Everton took the lead on 73 minutes in their tried-and-trusted way with their 15th set-piece strike of the season. A deep free kick from Pickford was only half cleared by Brighton and when the ball fell to Branthwaite, he lashed it into the back of the net from 18 yards.
Everton stayed 17th in the table with 21 points from 26 games, one clear of Luton Town - who have a game in hand - in the relegation zone. Brighton are seventh with 39 points.
Brighton were reduced to 10 men nine minutes from the end when midfielder Billy Gilmour received a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Amadou Onana, but they kept on pressing for the equaliser and peppered the Everton goal.
The visitors will have mixed feelings, Brighton controlled large points of the game and had numerous chances, but to concede so late against 10 men may feel like two points lost.
"We put in a solid performance," Branthwaite told BBC. "We went 1-0 up and then they went down to 10 men. Then we sat back and invited pressure - them scoring at the end is frustrating.
"They are a good team, with 10 men they could keep the ball. We pressed all game, then they went down to 10 men and we stopped pressing - I don't know what happened."
It stretched to nine their winless run in the league, but after a fast start from the hosts, Everton managed to slow down the Brighton tempo and began to look more comfortable in defence.
Dunk headed straight at Pickford from a corner and Simon Adingra fired narrowly over the bar in the first half.
Everton came close to the opener when Dwight McNeil’s deep cross was met at the back post by Abdoulaye Doucoure, but his excellent volley was brilliantly headed off the line by Tariq Lamptey.
After Branthwaite fired Everton in front and Gilmour was sent off, it looked like the perfect afternoon for the away side.
That was until Pascal Gross swung in a cross and Dunk rose highest to steer the ball into the back of the net.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ed Osmond)
