Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 3
Goals from Adam Lallana, Kaoru Mitoma, scoring his Albion first, and a winner from the ever-dependable Pascal Gross lifted Albion to sixth in the Premier League.
Albion had the first real chance of the match as Adam Lallana and Lewis Dunk combined to set up Solly March who allowed himself to be closed down.
But just minutes later, Mitoma recycled possession from a corner and the ball fell to Lallana who curled a great shot past Jose Sa for only his second ever Albion goal.
Wolves hit back immediately as Boubacar Traore played a defence-splitting pass that allowed Goncalo Guedes to round Robert Sanchez for 1-1.
On the half hour, Dunk was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area. Although it appeared that Daniel Podence was offside, VAR determined that he wasn’t and that Dunk had handled. Ruben Neves slotted the penalty home to put Wolves 2-1 in front.
Then, just before half time, Mitoma rose to head his first Albion goal from a Lallana cross. And it wasn’t Mitoma’s last involvement in the half as another Dunk through ball saw Mitoma clean through but bundled over by Nelson Semedo. Mitoma controversially waved an imaginary card at referee Graham Scott who seemed to agree and sent the Portuguese defender off.
Albion had the whole of the second half to overcome 10-man Wolves and, with unsuccessful efforts from Alexis Mac Allister, Lallana again and Danny Welbeck, on as a substitute, they were starting to look frustrated.
But with seven minutes left, excellent work from Mitoma, with some sublime skill and a contribution from Deniz Undav, also on as a substitute, saw the ball reach Gross who fired home Albion’s well-deserved winner.
The Seagulls are next due to travel to Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday (9 November) before their last pre-Christmas Premier League match at home to Aston Villa on the following Sunday (13 November).
