Well, history told us not to expect too many goals from this fixture. But we got them, with some added controversy thrown in for free. Brighton are within their rights to feel aggrieved over the penalty non-decision, but Burnley were worth their win on balance, just that little bit more staunch in defence, more clinical up front. And of course the luck was with them tonight, as it arguably wasn’t against Southampton last week. These things have a habit of coming around. The verdict from the ground is below. Thanks for reading; nighty night!
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And now the view of Chris Hughton. “It’s an obvious penalty. At the time we felt, and you saw the reaction of the players, which sometimes gives you a fair idea on the touchline. But when you see it again it’s an absolute blatant penalty. Between the linesman and the referee that’s ten yards away, I can’t believe it’s not given. And of course they go up the other end and get a third goal. What I’m not taking away from is the performance of Burnley, who play a certain way, they do it very well, and they’re in good form at the moment. I thought we tested their goalkeeper, but we didn’t put our chances away and you can’t do that against a good side like Burnley. The penalty would change the momentum of the game, but we conceded poor goals, and that’s not like us. My overriding feeling is one of disappointment at the goals we have conceded.” Hughton was given every opportunity by BT Sport to blow his top and go off on a rant, but he kept his counsel. A class act, isn’t he?
Sean Dyche is asked a few questions about the match, and he praises his centre forwards Barnes and Wood, plus the keeper Heaton. But let’s be honest, we just want to know his opinion of the Hendrick incident. “I think you’ll probably be aware of the decisions that haven’t gone for us lately. I’ve tried not to go overboard on it, I’ve only said that over a season you want it to balance out. So we got one today that’s an important one. But the other side of it is, our penalty is a definite penalty. Maybe it’s payback for last week, when Barnes should have had one.”
Some instructive footage of Burnley walking off the pitch at the end of the match. James Tarkowski is larking around with Jeff Hendrick, miming the shoulder-turn and handball the midfielder got away with, just before the Clarets were awarded a match-settling penalty of their own. A lot of laughter, they know they’ve got away with one tonight.
Tom Heaton, all cheeky smiles, is interviewed by BT Sport and handed the man-of-the-match award. “It was a massive win. We took our goals really well. In fairness, the ball hit Jeff’s hand, bounced up, but it’s difficult for the referee, I don’t think it was a penalty, I don’t think he really meant it. You’ll tell me more than I can see it. It’s one of those, it sometimes goes for you, we got the breaks today.”
Anthony Knockaert engages the referee Stuart Atwell in a full and frank discussion over the non-award of a penalty for the Hendrick handball. But he’s getting nowhere. It’s over. Burnley got the decision, while Brighton were left to seethe, their ill fortune magnified when they pulled a goal back immediately after Barnes scored Burnley’s third. The result means Brighton end the weekend in 14th spot, ahead of Burnley on goal difference, on 27 points. The pair are both three points clear of the final relegation spot, which is now filled by Southampton. This is going to be some run-in at both ends of the table.
FULL TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 1-3 Burnley
And that’s it! Burnley escape from the relegation zone to leap to 15th place in the table. But their win wasn’t without controversy, as Brighton didn’t get a penalty for Jeff Hendrick’s clear handball, Ashley Barnes going straight up the other end to win and score a spot kick himself. It was the crucial difference between 1-2 and 0-3. But the breaks went with Burnley tonight.
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90 min +3: Knockaert whips a cross in from the right. Tarkowski heads out powerfully; the ball caroms off the nearby Mee and nearly ricochets into the bottom right! But Heaton, who has been superb all evening, reacts brilliantly to smother, ensuring Burnley’s evening doesn’t end in high farce.
90 min +2: Dunk and Barnes tangle out on the Burnley left. A foul to the visitors, and a chance to run the clock further down.
90 min +1: There will be four added minutes. The first passes without incident.
90 min: Happily, Mee is up and about. He’s taken a sore one on that leg, but is able to rejoin the game after running it off.
88 min: Propper floats one in from the left. Murray contests the ball with Mee, who clears but falls awkwardly. He’s down in a lot of pain, holding his left leg. Tarkowski and Heaton make frantic calls for the physio.
87 min: It’s still pelting down, the ball making trails now as it’s passed across the pitch. And it’s all happening in the Brighton half, the home team’s late rally having flagged somewhat.
85 min: Jahanbakhsh whips a flat cross into the Burnley box from the left. It’s a dangerous ball, but well defended by Tarkowski, who has been excellent this evening.
83 min: Another penalty appeal! Knockaert swings one in from the right. Propper nips in ahead of Tarkowski at the near post, but falls to the ground in the process. All innocent, and it’s another goal kick. But Brighton are fuelled by a sense of injustice here, and it’s making for a hell of a finale!
82 min: Montoya works hard down the right to win a corner. The kick’s sent to the far post, where Duffy climbs on Barnes and heads wide. Goal kick, though Brighton are claiming for everything now, in the hope of getting some karmic payback.
80 min: The Amex is a bubbling cauldron of righteous indignation, and this doesn’t help. Murray, just inside the Burnley box on the left, tries to flick a ball inside but it hits the arm of Cork. No penalty, because Cork’s arm was in a natural position and the two players were right next to each other. Still, that’s a decision the referee could have done without after his mistake over the Hendrick handball.
78 min: Burnley win a corner down the left. It’s hit long, and Mee should probably head home at the far post, but he flashes his effort wide. Incidentally, Ryan was booked for his role in the penalty. What a huge difference that minute of madness has made to this match!
GOAL! Brighton 1-3 Burnley (Duffy 76)
A free kick near the centre circle as Bissouma breaks down the right. He’s hauled back by Westwood, who is booked. Knockaert takes the set piece, and Duffy rises highest to guide a wonderful header down and into the bottom right!
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GOAL! Brighton 0-3 Burnley (Barnes 74 pen)
Barnes gets up and takes the penalty himself, slotting it into the bottom left. That’s a controversial goal all right, because Hendrick definitely handled when turning and clearing up the other end. A huge difference between 1-2 and 0-3.
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Penalty for Burnley!
72 min: Well this is quite the event. Brighton want a penalty as Hendrick controls the ball away from Murray with his chest ... but then it hits his upper arm. No decision. With Brighton surrounding the ref, Burnley stream up the other end, Barnes totally clear! Barnes attempts to round Ryan on the right, and is brought down. The ball breaks to Wood, who misses the open goal, but that’ll be a spot kick!
71 min: Bissouma nearly releases Bong into the Burnley box with a cute pass down the left channel, but Tarkowski reads the play well, comes across, and blooters the ball into Row Z.
70 min: And now the match has slipped into a proper lull, a state of affairs right up Burnley’s street.
68 min: Some sterile domination from Brighton. They ping it around the middle, and Burnley seem more than happy to let them get on with it.
66 min: So Brighton make a double change, replacing Locadia and Gross with Jahanbakhsh and Bissouma.
65 min: The rain continues to belt down, matching the mood of the home support. Brighton are going nowhere all of a sudden.
63 min: Ryan didn’t cover himself in glory with that goal. He got a hand on Wood’s shot, but it bent weakly and the ball squeaked past. Brighton had been the better side since the restart by some distance, so that’s a blow.
GOAL! Brighton 0-2 Burnley (Wood 61)
This comes out of nothing, and against the run of play. Dunk hits the ball long. His pass is easily headed back upfield, allowing McNeil to race down the middle of the park, pretty much unchallenged. He slides a ball wide left for Wood, who glides inside and curls a low shot across Ryan and into the bottom right for his second goal of the evening!
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59 min: Propper, on the left-hand edge of the penalty box, looks for the top right with a curler. It’s wild and over the bar. Heaton’s not so proactive this time as he takes a bloody age to restart the game with a goal kick, and the referee bollocks him accordingly. The fans give him the pantomime bird.
57 min: Heaton rushes out from his area to ping a quick free kick forward towards Barnes and Wood, with Burnley light at the back. Very proactive from the keeper, as that free kick was in the centre circle. Unfortunately the levels of proactivity aren’t matched by his accuracy; it’s easy for Brighton to clear.
55 min: Brighton continue to press Burnley back. They’re getting plenty of crosses in from both flanks, thought the Mee-Tarkowski partnership is dealing with everything that’s been launched at them.
53 min: Knockaert has been busy since coming on; now he skitters down the right but can’t quite get his cross in. Brighton have hogged the ball since the restart. Burnley have looked agitated and nervous in possession. On the touchline, Sean Dyche orders his men to calm down.
51 min: The first corner, from the right, leads to a second, on the left. From that second one, Knockaert drives at Barnes, who has gone to ground early, sliding along the wet turf on his trousers. Knockaert goes over Barnes, and screams for a penalty, but he’s not getting it because Barnes had eventually won the ball before contact was made. A smarter, arguably more cynical, player would have purchased a cheap penalty from Barnes then. But Knockaert didn’t play a smart hand.
49 min: Brighton stress-test the Burnley defence by looping crosses in from both wings. It holds up. Then Knockaert takes his first tilt at the back line, running at Taylor down the right. He wins a corner for his efforts.
48 min: March has been one of Brighton’s stand-out performers this evening, so it’s sad to see him forced to depart with an injury. He’s replaced by Knockaert.
47 min: Cork is brought down in the centre circle. Heaton launches it long as Burnley load the Brighton box. Tarkowski eyebrows it on, but neither Barnes nor Wood have read the flick-on, and the ball flies through to Ryan.
We’re off again! Brighton get the second half underway. It’s pelting stair-rods. No changes.
Half-time reading. Ben Fisher was our man at St Mary’s this afternoon to witness the Bluebirds putting the cat amongst the pigeons down at the foot of the Premier League. Here’s his take on a dramatic match that has consequences for both Brighton and Burnley.
HALF TIME: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Burnley
And that’s that for the half. Burnley were the better team for most of the first 45, though the hosts came back into things towards the end there, and will wonder how they’ve not scored with at least one of their efforts. It’s not a technical classic, but it’s a really good rollocking Premier League battle, and it could be a very entertaining second half. The evening’s young, so stay awhile with us, don’t be heading out for your Saturday night just yet!
45 min: Tarkowski and Murray challenge for a high ball, 35 yards out. The Burnley man’s put an elbow on the back of the Brighton striker’s nut there. He’s got away with it, though. Then it’s Murray v Tarkowski II, as the resulting free kick’s looped into the area from the left. The defender eyebrows it out for a corner. From the set piece, Duffy plants a downward header towards the bottom right. For once, Heaton is beaten ... but Hendrick is on the line to hack clear! That was such a good header; great defending by Hendrick.
43 min: Burnley have been the better team on balance; nevertheless Brighton haven’t been bad, and Heaton’s had to make some big saves. Locadia crosses from the left. At the far stick, Gross loops a header towards Murray in the middle. Murray is preparing to tap a header home from inches out, but then Heaton flicks it away from him with the tips of his fingers, and the ball sails out for a corner, left of goal. Nothing comes from the resulting set piece. What a save!
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40 min: It’s started raining heavily on the south coast. The cold droplets ping off Sean Dyche’s fizzing pate, the Burnley boss on a hot setting, Brighton having been awarded a corner down the right after a battle between March and Taylor. The ball had clearly come last off the Brighton man. Eventually the lino calls the ref over and explains the error of his ways. It’s a goal kick. Dyche calms down, a little bit.
38 min: March embarks on a rococo ramble down the right. He pulls one back for March, who slams a shot towards the top right. Bardsley saves the goal by taking one flush in the grid.
37 min: A stat from the BT Television Service: of the 16 matches Brighton have fallen behind in this season, they’ve only won one. More worryingly for the hosts, they’ve lost 12. Burnley will be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Southampton, who as things stand will be slipping into the relegation zone, will not.
35 min: Gross nips down the right and crosses towards Murray at the near post. The Brighton goal machine does very well to power a header wide right; it was a very difficult chance. But close equals no cigar.
34 min: Bong works hard for a little space down the left, but his low cross is too close to Heaton, who snaffles without fuss. Burnley go up the other end, Barnes pealing a shot from distance towards the bottom right; Ryan parries then claims.
33 min: Burnley are much the better side. Hendrick causes all manner of panic in the Brighton box. The ball finds Bardsley, coming in from the right. Bardsley shoots low and hard towards the bottom-right corner, but Ryan is on the spot to gather.
31 min: Westwood loops the corner towards the far post. Tarkowski isn’t far away from meeting it from close range, but the ball’s an inch too high. A goal wouldn’t have counted anyway, because Dunk was bowled over in the middle of a penalty-box melee. Free kick to Brighton.
30 min: McNeil is fine, and he’s soon zipping down the left wing to win a corner with his low cutback intended for Hendrick.
28 min: Brighton respond well, winning a free kick out on the left. There follows a game of head tennis involving Duffy, Dunk, McNeil and Barnes in the box. Then a scramble. Duffy jumps with his arms out, and Duffy hits him on the arm with the Burnley player’s back turned. That should have been a penalty, but Brighton don’t get it, and adding insult to injury, the ref blows for a head injury when McNeil falls to the ground. Pressure off.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Burnley (Wood 26)
This had been coming. Barnes, tight on the left touchline, hooks a ball down the channel under pressure. Dunk should clear, but slips and that allows Wood to tear clear on goal! Wood’s not looking this gift horse in the mouth, and sends an unstoppable screamer into the top left. Ryan had no chance of stopping that power drive. But an awful mistake from Dunk.
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25 min: Locadia makes good ground down the left and slips a ball across the face of the area to March, who drops a shoulder, cuts inside, and pearls one towards the top left. But Heaton sticks a strong arm up to stop it. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
23 min: A look at the replay of the twin twang of the crossbar suggests Barnes could have done a lot better with his header. It was a pretty good chance; a simple cushioned header into an empty net. He didn’t have to make as much adjustment as I thought, coming straight onto the ball. It qualifies as a bad miss.
21 min: Possession’s been exactly 50-50 so far. But Burnley have done more with their share. The Amex has fallen a little quiet as a result.
19 min: Burnley are beginning to boss this now. Barnes makes good down the left, tearing after another long Tarkowski pass, and whips a glorious first-time cross through the Brighton box. Wood nearly connected at the near post, but didn’t make it, and the danger is over. Wood didn’t totally commit to that; if he’d thrown himself at the cross, he might have been able to bundle that in.
17 min: Burnley hit the woodwork twice in a couple of seconds! McNeil is sent into the Brighton box down the inside-left channel, after a cute Hendrick pass. McNeil shoots low, looking for the bottom right. Duffy, sliding in, deflects the ball up and off the crossbar with a telescopic leg. It drops to Barnes, who tries to cushion a header into the unguarded net from 12 yards, but can’t adjust his body in time. His header brushes the top of the bar and out for a goal kick.
16 min: Westwood hooks a clever improvised pass down the right to release Hendrick into space. Hendrick whistles a cross through the six-yard box, but nobody in Burnley black has taken a gamble, and Ryan watches it through his area and away from danger.
14 min: Tarkowski tries to release Wood down the right with a raking pass from deep. Nope. Too much on that, and it’s a goal kick. But both teams appear to be in the mood to go for the crucial three points in this season’s increasingly unpredictable scrap to avoid the final relegation place. (Let’s face it, Fulham and Huddersfield are gone.) No settling for a point. Not yet, anyway.
12 min: McNeil curls the free kick long and deep. It’s only half cleared by Brighton, and Hendrick, coming in from the right, meets the ball with a fierce low drive. It pinballs away from danger, but that was an extremely sweet strike. He’ll be bemoaning the thicket of players he was forced to shoot through.
11 min: Duffy barges into the back of Barnes, as the pair contest a high ball down the Burnley right. That’s a fairly clumsy challenge, and a free kick to the visitors in a very dangerous position. They load the box.
9 min: Thankfully Bong is soon up and about. He looks a little groggy, but a shake of the head later, he’s cleared to continue.
8 min: Bardsley bombs forward down the inside-right channel. He shows a little bit too much of the ball to Bong, who is able to come in and make a block tackle. But Bardsley is going at full pelt, and the two come together in a sickening but totally accidental and fair clash. Bardsley gets up quickly enough, but Bong is still prone. The ref immediately stops the game.
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6 min: Well, this is a bright, open start. Some head tennis in the Burnley box, Gross having hit a diagonal free kick into the mixer from deep on the right. Murray makes a nuisance of himself, and the ball nearly drops to Locadia at the right-hand post. But Taylor sticks a leg out to divert, just as the Brighton man was preparing to tap in. It’s a corner, which comes to nothing.
4 min: Space for Gross down the right. He slams a low cross into the area. It hits Taylor in the seat of his pants, but Gross claims for a penalty kick anyway. He’s not getting it.
3 min: ... Gross chests down, 12 yards out, a little to the right. He creams a rising shot towards the top left. Heaton’s behind this one as well, turning it away from danger! We might get our goalfest after all, if the teams keep this up.
2 min: And now it’s Brighton’s turn to contribute to this fast start. Locadia sends a ball into the Burnley area from the left. March, coming in from the other side, guides a fine header towards the top left. But it’s tipped over by Heaton for a corner. From which ...
And we’re off! Burnley get the evening’s entertainment underway. And they immediately win a corner down the right. Tarkowski rises highest to meet it, but the ball only skims off the top of his head and away from danger.
Kick-off in a minute. First some warm applause in memory of Emiliano Sala, and then the teams take to the field of play. Brighton in their blue-and-white stripes, Burnley in alternative black. “I have to agree that this fixture doesn’t have Goalfest! written all over it, but fingers crossed Brighton-Burnley burns brightly,” quips Peter Oh, albeit slowly, taking great care over each syllable.
Brighton boss Chris Hughton talks to BT Sport! “We’re on the back of a very good performance against Watford, even if we didn’t get the win we wanted. And it was good to get through in the FA Cup. It’s been a good week. At the moment from an injury point of view we’re in good shape.”
Burnley manager Sean Dyche adds! “We’ve got back to being ourselves. We’ve found a relentlessness in how we play, including a last-minute goal in our last game, and that attitude is growing all the time. But it was unlikely that we’d be up and down all season, I thought we’d come into form at some point, thanks to the work our players do on the training ground. Now it’s about finding and maintaining consistency.”
A big result in the 3pm kick-offs. Cardiff City were leading 1-0 at Southampton through a Sol Bamba volley as the game moved into added time. Then Jack Stephens scored with another volley, earning Southampton an equaliser they barely deserved. But it wasn’t over: Kenneth Zohore restored Cardiff’s lead even deeper into injury time, and it ended Saints 1-2 Cardiff. That’s a huge three points for Neil Warnock’s side. It takes them up to 15th spot ... and pushes Burnley into the bottom three. But anything for Burnley in this match will send the Clarets into 15th themselves, knock Cardiff down a spot ... and send Southampton into the bottom three tonight. It’s awfully tight at the bottom.
Brighton make one change to the team named in the Premier League last weekend for the goalless draw against Watford. Dale Stephens comes in for Yves Bissouma, who drops to the bench.
Burnley are unchanged. It’s the same XI who earned a draw against Southampton last week, with veteran newboy Peter Crouch once again given the role of supersub.
The teams
Brighton & Hove Albion: Ryan, Montoya, Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Gross, Stephens, Propper, March, Murray, Locadia.
Subs: Kayal, Bissouma, Knockaert, Jahanbakhsh, Button, Bernardo, Burn.
Burnley: Heaton, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Wood, Barnes.
Subs: Lowton, Gibson, Crouch, Hart, Ward, Vydra, Long.
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire).
Preamble
We’ll be straight with you: this fixture does not scream GOALFEST!!! The Seagulls and the Clarets have met each other in the top flight of English football on three previous occasions. The classified scores: 1-0, 0-0, 0-0. And neither team have been banging them in much this season; they’re both scoring at a rate of one a game, give or take a couple of hundredths here and there. You’ll thank me for tempting fate when this ends 4-3.
But both sides will nevertheless be in a reasonable state of mind. Brighton have only won once in their last ten Premier League games, but they’ll be buoyed by their fourth-round FA Cup victory over West Bromwich Albion in midweek. Burnley meanwhile were in a little trouble for a while back there, but an unbeaten run of six games in the league, coinciding with Tom Heaton’s return in goal, has extricated them from bottom-three bother.
Nobody’s safe from the drop yet, of course. Far from it. Which makes the three points on offer this evening oh-so-precious. Can Brighton notch their first victory since putting away Everton at the Amex over Christmas? Or will Burnley follow up their draw at Manchester United with another big result away from Turf Moor? Will it end 4-3? Or 0-0? Let’s find out. Here’s to a scintillating scrap on the south coast. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm GMT.
