Matheus Cunha completed a late comeback as Wolverhampton Wanderers earned a dramatic 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion at Amex Stadium and move off the bottom of the table.
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Gary O’Neil’s men had been 2-0 down with five minutes to go before striking twice late on to rescue a point, though they still remain winless after nine games.
Danny Welbeck opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before Evan Ferguson appeared to put the game to bed five minutes from time with an incisive strike from the edge of the box.
But Rayan Ait-Nouri gave the visitors hope when he struck from a corner in the 88th minute before a remarkable equaliser in stoppage time. Brighton had a four-on-one but Tommy Doyle intercepted the cross and passed to Cunha who advanced before sending the away fans into raptures with a deflected shot.
Brighton sit fifth while Wolves move up to 19th in the table, overtaking Southampton.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
17 | +6 | 28 |
| 6 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
17 | 0 | 28 |
| 7 |
Man City
MCI
|
17 | +4 | 27 |
| 8 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
17 | +6 | 26 |
| 9 |
Fulham
FUL
|
17 | +2 | 25 |
How the match unfolded
The visitors had the best chance of the opening 10 minutes when Cunha pulled back from the left byline to find Tommy Doyle unmarked at the edge of the box, but he fired over.
It took 45 minutes for Brighton and in-form striker Welbeck to make the breakthrough. Georginio Rutter threaded the ball through to the Englishman and he made no mistake by firing across goal and into the bottom-left corner.
A double half-time substitution gave Wolves fresh impetus, though, as Jorgen Strand Larsen directed a free header at Bart Verbruggen straight after the break.
Despite increasing pressure from Wolves, Ferguson doubled Brighton's lead in the 85th minute. Tariq Lamptey fed him on the edge of the box before he turned to fire low into the bottom-left corner.
Ait-Nouri finally made Wolves’ efforts pay as he seized on a loose ball from a corner to fire home from inside the box in the 88th minute.
Against the odds, the visitors completed the comeback five minutes later as Doyle intercepted a three-man Brighton overload at the back before firing a long ball forward, which Cunha received to fire home and snatch a point.
Brighton had this 4-on-1 opportunity in stoppage time...
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 26, 2024
But Wolves won the ball back and scored seconds later! https://t.co/UaQjTZtcrq pic.twitter.com/fyqQHuINyK
Welbeck keeps on firing
Brighton seemed to struggle to execute the final ball in their attacking moves in the first half, with Wolves’ low block proving resistant.
With speculation in the build-up to the match over Welbeck’s fitness, after he was taken off having scored the winner against Newcastle United last weekend, there was surely relief among the home fans to see their top scorer’s name in the starting line-up.
That was certainly the case in the 45th minute when he finally made good on Brighton’s pressure. A brilliant run in behind the Wolves defence allowed Rutter to play a through-ball into his path, and he made no mistake to stroke home with confidence.
Welbeck threatened again in the 62nd minute as he seized on Pablo Sarabia’s mistake at the back to surge into the box. This time, he saw his shot blocked from close range but once more, he offered Brighton’s biggest threat.
It was unsurprising when the Amex Stadium crowd sang Welbeck’s name given his scintillating form, though their back line was unable to get them over the line in the end.
O’Neil’s men still fighting
Doyle’s heroic interception to start the Wolves move for their equaliser epitomised the fight in O’Neil’s side.
Faced with four Brighton forwards rushing towards him on the edge of his own box, the Englishman stepped forward to intercept as Wolves’ last man before starting an attack of his own.
The outcome proved to be decisive as Cunha’s late equaliser doubled the visitors’ points tally this season.
Wolves had come out resurgent after the break and slowly put pressure on a Brighton side who looked dominant in the first half.
When Ferguson fired in their second against the run of play five minutes from time, it would have been understandable to see Wolves’ spirit break.
But if anything, they only looked galvanised. Ait-Nouri’s near-immediate response finally saw their pressure pay and gave them something to fight for, before Doyle’s intervention set Cunha free to finish the job.
Wolves go second from bottom on only two points, but their effort today indicates a side still set on delivering for O’Neil.
Club reports
Brighton report | Wolves report
What managers said
Fabian Hurzeler: "We lost two points and we failed today in our development. We were not mature enough, not professional enough to win this game. We have to learn quick from this. We were not ruthless enough in defending set pieces, we had a big chance to go for the third goal, we missed this and then get punished. We were not acting professionally and we have to learn from this. That is very important."
Gary O' Neil: "We were 2-0 down and didn't deserve to be but we've said that too often this season. It did feel like it was going to be another one of those where I was going to have to stand here and talk about [another defeat]. But the lads haven't shied away from any challenge. Today showed that if you give everything it can't consistently go against you."
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Match facts
Welbeck has scored in three successive games for only the third time in the Premier League, previously doing so in January 2014 with Manchester United and November 2010 with Sunderland.
All three of Ait-Nouri’s Premier League goals for Wolves this season have come in his last four games, while he’s been involved in more goals in 2024 than any other defender (eight – five goals, three assists).
Wolves have avoided defeat after being at least two goals down in a Premier League game for the first time since May 2022 against Chelsea. Indeed, they’d lost each of their last 30 such games prior to today.
