Brighton 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur: 18 minute comeback gives Brighton three vital points

Brighton came back from 2-0 down to take all three points against Tottenham Hotspur at the AMEX Stadium.

The visitors were well on top in the first half; goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison gave them the perfect platform to win their sixth game in a row.

But then they threw it all away. Yakuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck all scored within 18 minutes of each other to turn the game on its head and drive Brighton to their first Premier League win in five games.

As it happened

All good runs end somewhere. After five wins in their last five games, Spurs were on cloud nine when they travelled to East Sussex on Sunday. A win in this game would send them up to sixth, just three points adrift of Chelsea in the top four. After a hit-and-miss start to the season, this was the run they’d been looking for. But things wouldn’t go all their own way.

Brighton away was always going to be a tough test. Spurs’ record at the AMEX Stadium is patchy; three wins, three defeats and a draw in their seven previous visits left little room for prediction for this clash. At first, though, they did a fine job of stamping some authority.

In the first five minutes, they had three clear chances to take the lead. Only 16 seconds into the game, Timo Werner squared a ball in Johnson’s direction which had just too much fizz to meet his sliding right boot.

On three minutes, Dejan Kulusevski cut in past Lewis Dunk to create enough space to curl an effort goalwards, but the defender reacted well to deflect the effort over the bar.

Then, five minutes in, it was James Maddison’s turn, played in behind beautifully by Cristian Romero, but seeing his half volley blocked by Adam Webster. How they didn’t score is a mystery; but it was coming.

A Webster injury and a Brighton reassessment delayed the inevitable, but on the 24-minute mark, they would get their goal – and it was the man who seems to be scoring all of Spurs’ goals at the minute.

After notching five in five since deactivating his social media profiles following the North London derby defeat, Brennan Johnson has been an entirely different animal. If there was anyone on whom you could bet your house to score against Brighton, it was him.

It was a lovely goal too. Dominic Solanke played a tremendous pass between both Igor and Dunk to meet the run of Johnson who, upon arrival into the box, wasted no time to slot a composed finish past Verbruggen. Six goals in six games; you’d be forgiven for mistaking those numbers as Harry Kane’s. Maybe he was the replacement all along.

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Brighton would slowly grow into the game after falling behind. Chances came and went for Danny Welbeck, first sliding a golden chance in the six-yard box well wide of the far post, then glancing a looped header just wide. Between the 32nd and 37th minute, they had 71% of the ball.

But they wouldn’t score next. Instead, Spurs hit on the break and took their first chance since the goal.

This time it was James Maddison, and it was much too simple. Werner found a pocket of space just outside the Brighton box, laid the ball off and watched the former Leicester man do the rest. Verbruggen won’t want to see it back, though; the shot was low, slow and central – but it slipped through the keeper’s hands, bouncing agonisingly into the net. Spurs didn’t care, though – they were well on their way to their sixth win in a row.

But there was to be trouble in paradise just after the break. Kaoru Mitoma played a hopeful ball into the area, one which was completely missed by Micky van de Ven and then scuffed by Destiny Udogie. Waiting at the far post was Yakuba Minteh who, in disbelief at his luck, had enough time to steady himself and burry a driven finish into Guglielmo Vicário’s near post. The Lilywhites were pegged back; the Seagulls had a lifeline.

Then the game was flipped on its head altogether. Ten minutes after pulling one back, Brighton would level things up.

It was Mitoma creating again, this time in the middle of the park. One ball towards the box found Georginio Rutter, who did tremendously well to hold off Udogie before spinning and lashing a clinical finish past a helpless Vicário. Spurs, for all their quality and dominance in the first half, were undone by the first two real chances in the second. But that’s football for you; it really is, cliché or not, a game of two halves.

For Fabian Hürzeler and co., just pulling things back level was never going to do. This is a Brighton team who have made a habit of exceeding expectations; and that’s exactly what they’d do here.

Spurs were still all over the place, and the Seagulls smelt blood. Rutter, scorer of the second, would take it upon himself to turn provider for the third, spinning past Udogie and Johnson before sending in a teasing ball into the six-yard box. Waiting was Welbeck, unmarked, free as a bird to nod in the go-ahead goal. Vicário was nowhere near it. Brighton, from two down, were somehow ahead.

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After Aston Villa and Manchester United’s exceedingly dull 0-0 draw earlier in the day, this was something of a pallet cleanser, much to the chagrin of a shellshocked Ange Postecoglu and Tottenham Hotspur.

Try as they might, they couldn’t recreate their first-half quality. Spurs were limited potshots; Werner, Maddison and Udogie all tried and failed from distance, only the latter testing Verbruggen between the sticks.

Against all the odds, this was Brighton’s day. After four games without a win in the Premier League, they finally picked up three points against one of the competition’s most in-form sides. These were vital points and a hugely important performance; this was resilience personified, and this looks more like the Brighton we’ve become accustomed to, now back in the European spots.

This was a bad defeat for Spurs though. Just when they’d turned their fortunes around, they’ve snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a way only they can. In the immortal words of Sir Alex Ferguson: “Lads, it’s Spurs.” On the money as ever.

The lineups

BHA: Verbruggen; Veltman, Dunk, Webster, Kadioğlu; Baleba, Hinshelwood, Rutter; Mitoma, Welbeck, Minteh

TOT: Vicário; Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero, Porro; Maddison, Bentancur, Kulusevski; Werner, Solanke, Johnson