Jan Paul van Hecke’s late header for Brighton denies Wolves a first win
By Sunny Badwal, PA
Jan Paul van Hecke scored a late header to rescue Brighton a 1-1 draw and deny Wolves a first Premier League victory of the season.
Wolves were denied all three points in the last minute against Tottenham last week, and Vitor Pereira’s bottom-placed side were again unable to cling on to victory as the clock ticked down.
Pereira was given a red card in the first half after showing his fury on the touchlin,e but his side hit the front shortly after when Marshall Munetsi’s volley bounced off the bar onto goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen and in.
Sam Johnstone denied the Seagulls five times throughout the encounter as it looked like Wolves would win for the first time in 11 Premier League matches.
However, Van Hecke notched four minutes from time to earn Brighton’s seventh point this season from a losing position as both sides’ wait for a first clean sheet of the campaign went on.
The first major flashpoint came off the field after Pereira was sent to the stands after he kicked a ball in frustration for what he thought was a foul on Joao Gomes by Carlos Baleba.
But, Pereira’s absence did not stop the hosts from taking the lead.
Jhon Arias’ ball into the box was headed out by Danny Welbeck but the ball dropped beautifully for Munetsi who saw his thunderous volley saved by Verbruggen onto the bar, but the ball dropped back onto the Brighton keeper and rolled into the net.
Wolves have rarely been in a winning position, and they seemed keen to search for more, Ladislav Krejci connected with a header from Hugo Bueno’s cross which was tipped over the bar this time by Verbruggen.
Wolves needed to be wary of Brighton’s threat in the final third though and Brajan Gruda almost capitalised on Jackson Tchatchoua’s weak back pass but could not divert his touch beyond Johnstone.
Wolves could have made it two 10 minutes after the break when Jorgen Strand Larsen latched onto a long ball over the top to set off a counterattack. He picked out Bueno ,who fed it across to the onrushing Arias inside the area but he blasted over from close range.
Brighton ought to have been on level terms, but Johnstone pulled off a superb save to tip Georginio Rutter’s powerful effort wide.
Wolves were denied a second by the woodwork heading into the final quarter of an hour when Strand Larsen ran through on goal but struck the outside of the near post.
And Wolves’ hearts were broken late in the piece for a second straight week.
A short corner to Maxim De Cuyper was whipped onto the head of Van Hecke, who nodded beyond Johnstone.
