Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Crystal Palace 0
Albion held on to beat relegation-threatened Crystal Palace with a Solly March goal after another fantastic contribution from Kaoru Mitoma.
Palace had a good chance in the first minute as Wilfried Zaha found space to fire in a cross shot that Jason Steele pawed around the post.
In game a few chances, Albion had to hang for nine minutes of second-half stoppage time as a power failure shortly after the break affected the referee communications and briefly dimmed the Amex lights.
Albion were lacklustre and appeared devoid of their usual fluency.
Palace were on top in the early exchanges and Steele had to be alert as Michael Olise rushed forward but the Albion keeper dived bravely at his feet.
Albion’s early winner came courtesy of a Mitoma through ball March raced on to it and angled a shot clear of young debutant Joe Whitworth in the Palace goal for 1-0
Albion did little else to test that young keeper in the first half .
The most compelling spectacle was the running battle between Joel Veltman and Zaha which saw the Albion defender suffer a bloody nose.
Soon into the second half a partial power failure which briefly dimmed the lights and affected the referee communications was fairly quickly resolved.
Whitworth made good saves from Mac Allister and Pervis Estupinan .
Jeeffrey Schlupp had a good chance to level after being picked by Olise, but dragged a shot wide
Then during the nine minutes of time added on Steele perhaps over confidently played a causal ball to Pascal Gross who appeared to stumble and Eberirche Etz managed to intercept only for Naouirou Ahamada drag his shot wide.
Albion held on and stay 7th in the Premier League with 42 points with two games in hand on Tottenham who are six points better in fourth and the last Champions League spot.
Next for the Seagulls an FA Cup Quarter Final at the Amex on Sunday 19th. March against 4th Tier Grimsby Town.
