VAR controversially prevented Southampton from upsetting Brighton at the Amex Stadium as the _Seagulls_ missed the opportunity to go second.
Brighton were by far the better side in the first half. Kaoru Mitoma’s header gave the hosts the lead at halftime. They came out similarly at the start of the second half, but after Flynn Downes equalised Brighton never looked the same.
Cameron Archer had a goal ruled out after Adam Armstrong was ruled offside after a four-and-a-half-minute VAR check.
The game fizzled out after the check for the goal, with no big chances for either side despite 10 minutes being added on.
Yukinari Sugawara should have easily stopped a counter-attack by Brighton, but he seemed unaware of the proximity of his compatriot Kaoru Mitoma behind him. Mitoma stole the ball off the Southampton defender, which opened up a huge opening against the Premier League debuting Joe Lumley, but he couldn’t punish Sugawara’s mistake.
It was all Brighton early on with a few chances falling to Georginio Rutter. Firstly, he held off Kyle Walker-Peters and then pushed away from Taylor Harwood-Bellis before pulling his shot just wide of the right post. Then, a few minutes later, he cut inside and looked to curl one to the far corner but couldn’t quite curve it enough and hit the post.
The chances kept coming for the _Seagulls_. A great cross by Pervis Estupiñán found Danny Welbeck, but he couldn’t steer his shot inside the post.
Brighton finally converted one of their chances for the lead. It was Tariq Lamptey with a cross from a similar area to Estupiñán, but on the other side of the pitch. The ball wasn’t cleared by anyone and was allowed to bounce before being headed in by Mitoma for his third goal this season. The defending was poor: Welbeck dragged Harwood-Bellis away, vacating the centre of the box, and the cross was too high for Jack Stephens. This left a foot race between Mitoma and Sugawara, in which the former had a head start, and he headed home.
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Southampton got into some decent areas, often on the counter, but didn’t get the final ball right or didn’t have the options to create anything promising from them. The closest they came was a cross by Sugawara to Archer. The _Saints_ striker got goal side of Igor, but then connected with his shin on the shot, putting it wide.
Brighton continued as the better side in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, but Southampton found an equaliser in the 59th minute. It was a chaotic, pinball mess in the box as hopeful _Saints_ shots got blocked before the ball fell to Downes, who put his shot through the traffic past Bart Verbruggen.
The _Saints_ temporarily had the lead at the Amex before VAR intervened. Tyler Dibling superbly dribbled himself out of trouble before spreading the play to the far side. Substitute Ryan Fraser finally created a chance out of a wide area for Southampton with a low cross touched in by Archer at the back post.
But despite Archer being onside, VAR disallowed the goal for a motion towards the ball by Armstrong who was in an offside position. He had made a small flick as the ball went behind him, but VAR saw it to be enough to impact Verbruggen’s decision-making and rule out the goal. It was a controversial decision against Southampton to keep things at 1-1.
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Brighton responded with two chances immediately after the disallowed goal: Rutter with an acrobatic effort blocked, and Lewis Dunk missing the target with a free header at the back post.
10 minutes were added on after the incredibly long VAR check for what could have been Southampton’s second goal. It was all Brighton in that period as Southampton tried to see out the draw and possibly hit the hosts on the counter, but the hosts couldn’t create any meaningful chances.
In the end, it was a good but difficult result for Southampton to take. On one hand, it’s a good point to get away at one of the league’s best teams this season, but on the other, a questionable VAR decision prevented them from getting all three points.
The game lacked chances after the long VAR check, with Southampton sitting deeper to try and see the game out, and Brighton’s substitutions not being as effective as Fabian Hürzeler had hoped. So, the game came to a quite unsatisfying end for all.
**BRI:** Verbruggen; Estupiñán, Igor, Van Hecke, Lamptey; Mitoma, Ayari, O’Riley, Rutter; João Pedro, Welbeck
**SOU:** Lumley; Manning, Walker-Peters, Stephens, Harwood-Bellis, Sugawara; Armstrong, Fernandes, Downes, Dibling; Archer