Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Liverpool 3
Albion showed some excellent attacking play but ultimately went down 3-1 to Premier League Champions Liverpool.
The visitors were two goals up inside 10 minutes.
First, Mo Salah poked the ball home past Maty Ryan on five minutes, then Jordan Henderson doubled the lead three minutes later after a mix up in the Albion defence.
Albion rolled their collective sleeves up and dug in. Chances fell to Neal Maupay, Leandro Trossard and Pascal Gross as Albion utilised their pacy wide men.
Tariq Lamptey was again catching the eye and, after good work from Gross, the teenager fired in a cross for Trossard who scored from close range with a half volley to halve the arrears.
Albion created chances to draw level and were worrying the Liverpool defence although former Seagulls target Virgil van Dijk was superb at the back for Liverpool.
Dan Burn had a great chance to equalise after the ball came back over after a corner but the lofty Albion defender steered his shot wide.
Lewis Dunk also had a chance from a Gross corner as Liverpool keeper Alisson misjudged the flight of the ball but again the chance went begging.
Aaron Connolly, on as a substitute with his new streamlined haircut, also had a couple of good chances for Albion but in the end it was Salah’s night.
He came to the near post to meet a corner and planted a header into the bottom corner to restore Liverpool’s two-goal lead.
Albion will now face Manchester City at the Amex on Saturday (11 July) but they might just look a little nervously at the Aston Villa and Bournemouth marches tomorrow (Thursday 9 July).
Villa take on Manchester United at Villa Park while Bournemouth entertain Tottenham Hotspur at the Vitality Stadium.
Anything less than a win for either team, should see Albion in a very comfortable position come Friday morning.
