Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Brighton and Hove Albion 1
Jan Paul van Hecke snatched a late equaliser as Brighton and Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers shared the points at Molineux.
The result left the hosts anchored at the foot of the table and still looking for their first win.
They led for much of the match after Marshall Munetsi latched on to a clearance and volleyed it home from just inside the penalty area.
Bart Verbruggen got a hand to the ball but it ricocheted in off the bar and the goalkeeper’s back.
Attributing it as an own goal might be technically correct but would seem a tad harsh on both Munetsi and the Albion keeper.
The goal followed a Jhon Arias free kick out wide on the left, played across the goal, flicked back in by Jorgen Strand Larsen and headed out by Welbeck in the 21st minute.
It came straight after the referee Jarred Gillett had sent Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira to the stands after he kicked the ball at the officials’ dugout.
Pereira’s petulance was in response to a foul by Carlos Baleba. He was shown a yellow card as were Lewis Dunk, Mats Wieffer and Danny Welbeck – all in the first half.
Shortly after Wolves went ahead, Verbruggen pulled off a terrific save from Ladislav Krejci. Jhon Arias then sent another chance way over.
Albion had their moments, with Wolves keeper Sam Johnstone making at least five vital saves. One of them denied Georginio Rutter, who came on for Baleba at half time.
Rutter latched on to a Minteh cross inside the box just before the hour and fired a shot towards the middle of the goal. Johnstone showed amazing reflexes.
Brighton had a reprieve with 15 minutes left on the clock when Strand Larsen sliced through the Albion defence with relative ease.
Despite having worked himself into a decent position, he hit the post as Verbruggen successfully narrowed his shooting angle.
Defeat was averted with 86 minutes on the clock when Minteh played a quick short corner to Maxim De Cuyper who whipped the ball into the centre.
Stefanos Tzimas and Van Hecke rose together, with the latter powering home a header, leaving Johnstone with no chance.
