Substitute Beto denied Brighton victory at the death as his goal salvaged a point for Everton.
Pascal Gross scored with 17 minutes remaining following a fast break as James Tarkowski thought he headed Everton into the lead.
It looked like Fabian Hurzeler’s side did enough to secure the three points, which would have seen them leapfrog Everton to ninth, but they were denied by Beto, who tapped in from close range.
This leaves Brighton with one win in 11 Premier League games; this result pushes Everton to eighth in the league, albeit teams around them haven’t played yet.
It was Brighton who started better in the opening exchanges. Danny Welbeck’s backheel attempt was collected by Jordan Pickford.
Moments earlier, Pascal Gross had a deflected effort which went behind for a corner. Despite having all the ball, Brighton didn’t trouble Pickford and the Everton back-four.
From a Brighton corner, Welbeck has a header which glanced wide.
Georgino Rutter had a volley that went wide, following a floated cross by Ferdi Kadioglu.
The best chance of the half fell to Kaoru Mitoma, who should have put the home side ahead.
It came from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall losing the ball, Mitoma played it to Welbeck and gave it back to the Japanese international, whose effort narrowly went wide of the post.
David Moyes’s side struggled to get a foothold in the opening 45. The visitors didn’t have a shot in the first half, but their best moment came down Brighton’s left-hand side.
The ball fell to James Garner, who fizzed in a dangerous cross, which just missed Thierno Barry. The visitors had issues getting the ball into the final third, but they dealt with the threats that Brighton possessed.
Everton came close to breaking the deadlock early in the second half. The ball fell to Dewsbury-Hall, whose low strike looked to have the beating of Bart Verbruggen but dragged just wide.
Jarrad Branthwaite, who made his first start of the season for Everton, had a header which glanced wide of the post, following a Jake O’Brien throw-in.
Everton continued gathering the momentum and was denied brilliantly by Verbruggen from taking the lead.
Barry intercepted Carlos Baleba’s back pass and threaded the ball to Dewsbury-Hall, but his effort was saved again by Verbruggen to give Everton the lead.
The home side responded by making two substitutions with Joel Veltman and Charalampos Kostoulas entering the field. Ten minutes earlier, Yakuba Minteh came on, replacing Rutter.
Garner whipped in a dangerous corner, which was met by James Tarkowski and his header was cleared off the line. Brighton hit Everton on the break, and Pascal Gross opened the scoring.
Yasin Ayari played the ball across which was dummied by Kostoulas, and the ball fell to the path of Gross, who struck home to give the home side the lead.
David Moyes responded by bringing on Tim Iroegbunam, Carlos Alcaraz and Tyler Dibling. Mitoma thought he had given his side a second, but the offside flag was raised.
The visitors pushed for the equaliser, but were struggling to create any clear-cut chances. Brighton were dealing with the late pressure being created by **David Moyes**’s side.
The last chance of the game resulted in Beto getting a goal on his birthday. Jake O’Brien had an attempt on goal, which was pushed out by Verbruggen, and Beto reacted quickest to follow in, and he tapped home to extend Everton’s unbeaten streak to four games.
This result leaves Brighton in 13th place, but only three points off 7th as the race for Europe heats up.