In the match against Brighton, Beto’s late equalizing goal gave Everton a point, while the Seagulls conceded a late goal and dropped points for the second consecutive game.
In last weekend’s game against Fulham, Brighton lost the final kick with Harry Wilson’s free-kick. This time, they lost two points due to the reaction.
Jake O’Brien’s first-time shot was pushed out by Bert Verbruggen, but Beto, who was celebrating his 28th birthday, turned the ball home and Everton came back from behind to snatch a point away from home.
A brief VAR check was carried out for offside on James Tarkowski, but it was determined that he did not interfere with play and the goal was allowed. The goal was celebrated enthusiastically by Everton manager David Moyes, who was subsequently suspended for trouble, but said after the game that it had been worth it.
Brighton’s players looked distraught after the match and were met with loud boos from the home fans at full-time as their winless run in the Premier League extended to four games.
Pascal Gross scored his first goal since rejoining the club on January 2 to put Brighton ahead and it looked like a fairytale victory.
It was a simple finish, turning Yassin Ayari’s cross home. Credit also goes to Sharalampos Kostouras, who scored the goal, leaving the ball to his teammates.
Brighton also appeared to have scored their second goal soon after, but Kaoru Mitoma’s shot in the build-up was ruled out for offside.
Despite its nature, a draw was probably a reasonable outcome. It was a two-half game, with Brighton dominating in the first half, and Everton improving in the second half.
Beto celebrates stoppage time equalizer
In fact, things couldn’t have been worse for the Toffees, who had zero shots and zero xG in the first 45 minutes. They had their first shot in the 52nd minute, which was also a decent shot, sent wide by Keenan Dewsbury-Hall, making his first start since Dec. 6 following an injury.
Despite conceding an away goal for the first time since December 13th and missing their fourth consecutive clean sheet on the road, Everton sneaked up to eighth in the Premier League standings with 34 points. There is only a 4 point difference between the top four. Brighton have fallen to 13th place with 31 points.
Coach Moyes: In the end it was a deserved goal
Everton manager David Moyes told Sky Sports: “There aren’t many opportunities[to celebrate late winners]. I would have liked it to be bigger but it’s preventing the managers from celebrating. You can’t run around and jump onto the pitch.”
“I hope I didn’t look as bad as I did in the David Pleat game, but why? It was an emotional game, so it was worth a yellow card.
Beto celebrates after scoring the equalizer against Brighton
“I was really happy because we came here and played and didn’t make it easy for Brighton who are doing great at home.
“For us to come here and score the point in the last minute… it was a shame, but in the end I felt it was a deserved point and we did enough to get something out of the game.
“We wanted to ask questions in the first 25 to 30 minutes of the game and I thought it was Brighton who asked us questions in that time.
“But the league is so tight that you can dominate in the first half or be against us in the second half. The games at the moment are really up and down at the moment because of the level of the teams.
“Brighton were certainly better than us for most of the first half. We were better in the second half… There were small signs that we might have a chance to get back into the game. The truth was we still needed to create chances and create more.”
On Beto: “I’m very happy because he’s a very good kid. He’s trying to get better every day and it gives him every opportunity and he deserves it because things haven’t gone that well for him.”
“But today he scored a goal. It was very important for us to get points here and continue to build on what we have achieved in the Premier League.”
Hürzeller: “Slow draws hurt”
Pascal Gross scores his first goal since returning to Brighton
Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler told Sky Sports: “As I said before the game, we need to manage the important moments better and that moment 20 seconds before the end cost us the game. So it’s very tough. But we’ll take ownership and responsibility for it and keep moving forward.”
“I can’t say one player was the key issue because we lost the ball in easy ways and couldn’t defend the ball on the edge of the box. We always defend together, attack the goal together, win together and then lose.”
“We have to analyze it and improve it, because it’s not just a good performance that matters, but the result.”
On what he told his players: “You only have two choices in life. You can either feel sorry for yourself and wallow in self-pity, or you can say, ‘I know we have to get through this, I get it, tough times make tough people,’ and that’s what we’re going to do.”
“We’re trying to develop tough players to get us through this phase. And after every bad phase, there’s always going to be a good phase.”
