Southampton 2-2 Brighton: Saints throw it away late against the Seagulls
By Chris Hughes
Despite taking a comfortable two-goal lead over the away side tonight, Southampton left St. Mary’s with just a point as Glenn Murray struck late.
The Saints were just minutes away from recording back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time in nearly 18 months, after James Ward-Prowse was adjudged to have fouled Shane Duffy in the box right at the start of injury time. Veteran forward Glenn Murray stepped up to score his fourth goal of the campaign.
Southampton however scored the first two goals of the game with the pick of the bunch being Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s strike ten minutes before the interval – he shot the ball from just over 30 yards and it rocketed into the bottom corner.
Danny Ings meanwhile scored his third goal since joining the club with this one being from the spot, as the Saints took a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute. However, sloppy defending once again saw Shane Duffy give Brighton hope, before Murray scored the aforementioned penalty at the death.
Southampton had the opportunity to jump into the top half with a positive result but will have to settle for the 13th spot they were already occupying – Brighton likewise stay in 14th.
Next. Chris Hughton aware of Ings threat. dark
Southampton started the game positively with Nathan Redmond drawing praise from the supporters for his positive effect on proceedings. The Saints started the night well and the winger nearly provided a really nice assist for Cedric but the latter couldn’t find the back of the net off of Redmond’s cross.
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The Saints eventually took the lead after 35 minutes as a poor clearance saw the ball fall straight to Hojbjerg – we’re used to the Dane firing these over the bar but he instead kept it low and it rifled across Mat Ryan’s goal and into the bottom corner.
In the second-half the Saints continued to play some lovely football with good intensity and energy levels and eventually Danny Ings darted into the box only to be brought down with Anthony Taylor pointing to the spot. The forward scored his third goal in four starts from the resulting spot kick.
However it wasn’t to be as an Anthony Knockhaert free-kick caused some confusion at the back and centre-back Shane Duffy was able to head home to bring the deficit back to one just two minutes after Ings had scored.
With the Saints now shaky after conceding as per usual, they struggled to see the game through with substitute James Ward-Prowse bringing down Duffy with a second penalty awarded. Glenn Murray – who scored against Southampton last year – made no mistake as he sent McCarthy the wrong way.