Bournemouth 2 Brighton and Hove Albion 1
Two Brighton and Hove Albion players were injured in the first 25 minutes at Bournemouth as the hosts took the points with a 2-1 win.
Jack Hinshelwood hobbled off after three minutes after a challenge by Evanilson on the halfway line. Yasin Ayari came on in his place.
Just over 20 minutes later, Antoine Semenyo sent Maxim De Cuyper crashing into the advertising hoardings. Albion replaced him with Ferdi Kadioglu.
Moments before, Semenyo had been the provider, with a skilful intercept of the ball. He teed up Alex Scott who fired a left-foot shot into the far corner from just outside the 18-yard box.
Within minutes of the second half starting, Yankuba Minteh whipped in a teasing cross from the right Brighton and Japan international Kaoru Mitoma climbed highest to head home at the far post.
The goal initially changed the flow of the game, with Cherries keeper Djordje Petrovic having barely been tested in the first half – although, not long before the break, Minteh had a try.
Moments after Mitoma scored, Minteh flashed a deflected shot into the side-netting, having advanced into a shooting position.
Danny Welbeck then put a right-foot volley narrowly wide of the far post after the home side had failed to deal with a corner.
But on the hour, the Cherries were gifted the chance to retake the lead. Jan Paul van Hecke clumsily brought down Evanilson, leaving referee Peter Bankes with no option but to award a penalty.
Semenyo stepped up and calmly rolled the ball into the centre of the diving Bart Verbruggen’s net to claim his third goal of the season.
Albion substitute Carlos Baleba sent one effort high over the bar. It was as close as Brighton came to rescuing a point that they would not have deserved.
After the match, Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler told Sky Sports: “The performance was quite good. We dominated the game. We had chances. We just made the wrong decisions. The small margins made the difference and we weren’t at highest level.”
He reflected on the early loss of Hinshelwood and De Cuyper with injuries, saying: “Not a brilliant start but we responded in a good way, kept on pushing. We faced a lot of adversity today.”
And on conceding a penalty, he said: “We win together. We lose together. We will analyse it and come back.”
Hürzeler would not be drawn on the nature and extent of Hinshelwood’s injury, saying only: “I think it is (serious). I’m not a doctor so we have to wait for the scan.”
