LAST-GASP LEANDRO!
Trossard’s late stinger
LEANDRO TROSSARD showed it’s how, rather than how many, when it comes to the Premier League as Brighton moved up to fourth.
Graham Potter’s side have only scored five goals in their opening four games – in contrast to the two Manchester clubs above them who have 11 apiece – but their resilience and ability to make a little go a long way was apparent.
Trossard’s winner came in the 90th minute when the Belgian ace (right) shimmied across two defenders and curled a shot from the edge of the box inside the far post.
By that stage,
Brentford had run out of steam, their energy sapped by a succession of missed chances, four of them spurned by the wasteful
Bryan Mbeumo.
The victory means Brighton have won three of
At the Brentford Community Stadium
their opening four games. It took them 19 matches to get to that tally last season. Seagulls boss Potter said: “It was a tight game. Brentford were better than us in the first half but we shaded the second.
“But it’s not like we’re re-inventing the wheel. We keep working hard, keep trying to improve, and in the end we won it with Leo’s moment of brilliance.” Brentford dominated the first hour but their first defeat of the season – and first in their new stadium – was always a possibility after Mbeumo’s misses.
But manager Thomas Frank will shake off the pain of defeat today and focus on the job at hand.
“I have a 24-hour rule, where I can’t celebrate or be too disappointed for more than 24 hours,” said Frank.
“Brighton are four years ahead of us in terms of development and if you look at their players, they are on a lot more money than ours.”
On another day, Mbeumo might have had a hat-trick before the interval but he managed to miss three openings – two of them set up by Ivan Toney.
Either side of the phantom hat-trick, Brighton were spooked by Toney and Vitaly Janelt, who both had chances to put their side ahead.
Brighton were not without an attacking threat themselves, although their build-up was slower with more moving parts.
Their best effort came in the 14th minute when Danny Welbeck was denied by a smart David Raya save.
But the Spaniard could do nothing to keep out Trossard’s last-gasp winner, curling in the late sucker punch.