Brighton and Hove Albion 3 Aston Villa 4
Two goals from Jan Paul van Hecke, one of them in the final 10 minutes, were not enough as Brighton and Hove Albion were beaten 4-3 by Aston Villa at the Amex.
Instead, it was a brace from England international Ollie Watkins that set the visitors on the road to victory at Falmer this evening (Wednesday 3 December).
Villa boss Unai Emery was forced to hand the keeper’s jersey to Marco Bizot minutes before the match started after Emi Martinez picked up an injury during the pre-match warm up.
And some visiting fans were groaning when Van Hecke, a Netherlands international, beat his compatriot from close range after nine minutes to give Brighton the lead.
The early pressure from the Seagulls paid off again after 29 minutes with an own goal from Pau Torres, putting the Seagulls on course to leapfrog Villa in the Premier League table.
But then Watkins ended an 11-game goal drought with a first-half brace, having previously scored just once in 19 games this season. He now has nine goals to his name against Brighton.
Less than 10 minutes later, Carlos Baleba appeared to have brought down Ian Maatsen and Villa were disappointed not to be awarded a penalty.
Maatsen responded straight afterwards by getting past Mats Wieffer to send a low ball into the centre and a sliding Watkins turned it home.
Watkins struck again to equalise after seven minutes of stoppage time during a chaotic ending to the half as Watkins raced on to a searching pass from Morgan Rogers in a brutally effective counter-attack.
In the 60th minute, Matty Cash delivered an in-swinging corner from the left and Amadou Onana outjumped De Cuyper at the back post to head home in front of the travelling fans.
And Villa edged further in front 12 minutes from time when substitute Donyell Malen made an instant impact by scuffing home on the rebound after Bart Verbruggen saved Evann Guessand’s initial header.
On 83 minutes Van Hecke swept home from just inside the box to set up a tense finale but Villa clung on to register a sixth successive win in all competitions after Bizot saved a stoppage-time header from Danny Welbeck.
It was skipper Lewis Dunk’s 500th appearance for the Seagulls and not the result that he or the fans were hoping for.
Villa were the last side to beat Albion in the Premier League at the Amex in April and victory tonight propelled them into third place with 27 points from 14 games.
Albion slip to seventh, with 22 points from 14, and must hope for a return to winning ways when they host West Ham United, currently in 18th place, on Sunday (7 December).
