Key events
89 min: Dibling and Estupinan get involved in a pointless shoving match over nothing very much at all. The referee merely waves play on.
88 min: Estupinan crosses from the left. Ferguson cushions a header down to Ayari, who slashes a wild effort over the bar from the penalty spot. He had more time than he thought. Then both teams make a change, Minteh replacing Rutter for the hosts, Sulemana coming on for Archer for the Saints.
86 min: Fraser has made a difference since coming on. A couple of crosses from the left cause the hosts some momentary bother. He looks the most likely to create something right now.
85 min: This match is slowly petering out. Can either team find the energy for a final push?
83 min: Armstrong spins and swivels his way down the left. His dinked cross is only half cleared, but Dibling’s attempted volley is scuffed and easily blocked.
81 min: Ferguson manages to skittle both Fraser and Manning in one fell swoop. Some good old-fashioned number-nine play.
80 min: Lumley is fine to continue. The game restarts, and Dibling glides in from the right before bobbling a shot towards the bottom right. Easy for Verbruggen.
79 min: As the keeper gets his right knee checked, Brighton make another change, Ferguson coming on for Welbeck.
77 min: Lumley is down getting some treatment.
75 min: Brighton, full of relief, go on the attack in search of the Saints Sickener. Rutter tries an overhead that flies inches wide of the left-hand post. Dunk sends a header over. Wieffer ditto. Southampton, brought back down to earth, need to clear their heads of that crushing disappointment.
74 min: A triple change by Brighton. Wieffer, Adingra and Dunk come on for Lamptey, Pedro and O’Riley.
NO GOAL. Brighton 1-1 Southampton
72 min: VAR decides Armstrong’s flick towards the ball constitutes interference. That’s a fairly generous interpretation, it has to be said. Van Hecke was out of the game, and Verbruggen didn’t seem affected. But here we are.
71 min: Archer is on! But did Armstrong – certainly in an offside position by the near post, ahead of Van Hecke, neither of them close to Archer stood behind them in the centre – make a movement towards the ball that had an impact on play?
70 min: This is really tight. Archer in the centre looks off to the naked eye, but Lamptey, in the right-back position could be playing him on.
69 min: … but VAR is going to have a look at this. The flag has popped up for offside. It’s very tight. Was Archer inches off? Out come the rulers.
GOAL! Brighton 1-2 Southampton (Archer 67)
Dibling sashays in from the right and sends Fraser scampering into acres down the left. Fraser crosses. Archer opens his body and slams into the bottom right. Easy as that! What an outrageous turnaround!
66 min: Downes is replaced before he can get himself sent off. Aribo comes on in his stead, while Sugawara makes way for Fraser.
64 min: Southampton assistant manager Matt Gill was the recipient of that aforementioned booking.
63 min: That goal has given Southampton such succour, and now Armstrong barrels down the left into space. Archer is free in the middle, but he can’t find him with his cross. Had the cross been any good, it was surely 2-1 to Saints. How quickly games can change.
62 min: … and breathe. The Brighton free kick leads to nothing.
61 min: Before the free kick can be taken, there’s a brouhaha involving both managerial teams. Someone gets booked. Not sure who. Russell Martin maybe.
60 min: Some may argue Downes shouldn’t be on the pitch, having come very close to picking up a second yellow in the first half. Even more so now, as Downes skittles Pedro, who was in flight down the left. Did he elbow him? There didn’t look much in it, and the referee awards no more than a free kick, but Downes is surely in the last-chance saloon now.
GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Southampton (Downes 59)
Dibling wins possession in the centre circle. He drives down the inside-left channel. Manning is fed to his left. Manning checks and tries to tee up Armstrong. There’s some pinball, then the ball breaks to Downes on the edge of the box. Downes pearls into the bottom right through a crowded box, and it’s fair to say this has come against the run of play!
58 min: Sugawara sends Archer scampering down the right. A fine pass and a clever run, but the resulting cross sails half a mile over Armstrong’s head. Verbruggen still hasn’t been put to any sort of meaningful work.
56 min: Estupinan’s curling free kick is only half cleared. O’Riley meets it on the edge of the D and sends his shot bouncing towards the bottom left. Lumley claims easily enough.
55 min: Harwood-Bellis is booked for cynically body-checking the in-flight Mitoma. Free kick out on the Brighton left. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Saints box.
53 min: … but here it’s Brighton over-elaborating out from the back. Ayari plays Lamptey into trouble near the right-back’s corner flag, and Armstrong’s pressure earns Southampton a corner. Nothing comes of this set piece either, but please file this entry also under Dearie Me.
51 min: Yeah, Southampton look ragged at the back all right. Lumley’s clumsy pass out nearly clanks straight into Mitoma; Rutter picks up the ball and has his shot deflected wide right. Nothing comes of the corner, but dearie me, Southampton can’t keep on like this.
50 min: Brighton triangulate prettily down the right. O’Riley sends a low forensic cross through the six-yard box. Mitoma can’t quote get his toe to it. Southampton still looking ragged at the back.
49 min: Ayari nicks the ball off Dibling but just as Mitoma begins tearing off towards a lightly-guarded Southampton box, the referee kindly blows for a generous free kick.
47 min: Lamptey crosses deep from the right. Welbeck competes at the far stick, to little effect. Otherwise a slow start to the half. Goal kick.
Brighton get the second half underway. No changes … other than referee Rob Jones, just before the restart, swapping what looked like his whistle for a new one.
Half-time pancontinental postbag. “I think Mitoma’s header was not quite a sitter. Very hard to get the timing right when the ball is bouncing up to you on a header. His first chance when he nicked the ball was a lot easier. Always love watching him play, particularly the fact he did his PhD in dribbling. Who knew he could score with his head too?” – Calvin from Old Bar, Australia
“Unlike most Americans, I am not sleeping off a turkey-induced coma, just watching a bunch of football (of both persuasions). This weekend is so filled with sports, seemingly from dawn to dusk, that it can be a little overwhelming. Which is why God created wine. Sorry for the Saints, but I think this one is the Seagulls to lose” – Joe Pearson
“We in Brighton were at the edge of the BBC South Today region so got no coverage for about 45 years. It was all Southampton this, Portsmouth that. To be fair we were a rundown resort, and we had only Peter Ward. So we have NOTHING against the town or its people and supporters, other than a forever-deep-seated bile against those club names” – Simon Wellard
Half-time advertisement break. It’s the big game between the Lionesses and the USWNT tomorrow. We’ll have MBM coverage for you from 4pm GMT, but in the meantime allow us to whet your appetite.
HALF TIME: Brighton 1-0 Southampton
Brighton have been by far the better team, Saints their usual flaky defensive selves. But the visitors have shown at least some potential of scoring, so this isn’t over yet. A second goal for the hosts would surely kill it, though.
45 min +4: Pedro spins Downes down the inside-left channel. Downes tries to grab a handful of his shirt, then pushes him over. He’s really stress-testing his luck now. One more, surely, and he’ll be off. Just a free kick, from which nothing happens.
45 min +2: Stephens, playing out from the back … well, you know what happens to his crossfield pass. It’s intercepted by Mitoma, who passes infield to Pedro. A low shot is easily snaffled by Lumley, the keeper getting his team-mate out of jail.
45 min +1: Mitoma scuttles into the Saints box down the left but can’t find anybody with his low cross.
45 min: There will be four additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Sugawara crosses again from the right. It’s a lovely delivery that evades Julio’s slide at the near post. Archer meets the ball six yards out, level with the near post, but can only shin high and wide. That’s a dismal miss. That should have been the equaliser.
43 min: Sugawara bombs down the right, reaches the byline, and crosses long. Now it’s Brighton’s turn to allow the ball to bounce freely in their own box, and Manning, racing in from the left, has a speculative shot. He drags it into a crowded mixer, and the ball deflects out for a corner. The set piece is easily dealt with.
41 min: Lamptey and Rutter combine to win a corner down the right. O’Riley takes it. Saints clear it, but Brighton soon come back at the visitors, Pedro having a whack that gets blocked the second it leaves his boot. Saints aren’t quite at the hanging-on stage, but Brighton are certainly pushing for the second.
39 min: O’Riley faffs around with the ball, 30 yards from his own goal, allowing Armstrong to nick the ball and tee up Fernandes for a shot. The effort is blocked by Van Hecke. Better from Saints, though the bar is not set high.
37 min: Rutter is fine to continue. When play restarts, Archer goes scampering down the right and though his cross towards Armstrong is poor, he at least wins another corner. Nothing comes of this one either, but again, at the risk of belabouring the point: Southampton’s best form of defence is unquestionably attack.
35 min: Dibling tries to make something happen with a determined run down the left. Rutter slides in and nicks the ball away, but hurts his own shoulder in doing so. Play is stopped, and that’s good news for Downes, who seconds later comes barging into the back of O’Riley. Downes, already on a booking, wants to watch himself here.
33 min: So far this season, Southampton have lost all eight games in which they’ve conceded first. The way they’ve played so far tonight, they’ll not be bucking that trend unless something changes quicksmart.
31 min: Walker-Peters grapples with Rutter again, this time going into the book. Also seeing yellow: the Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler, for telling it as he sees it. That’s his third booking of the season, and a touchline ban for the upcoming Fulham game.
30 min: Harwood-Bellis and Stephens on walkabout there. A huge gap in the middle of the Southampton box, the ball inexplicably allowed to bounce, teeing up Mitoma for a sitter.
GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Southampton (Mitoma 29)
Walker-Peters fouls Rutter out on the right.The resulting free kick is worked upfield to Lamptey, who crosses into the Saints box. There’s nobody in the middle of it. The ball bounces on the spot, then rears up for Mitoma, racing in from the left. Mitoma powers a header home, one he could hardly miss. Easy as that. A decent cross, but where was the Southampton defence?
27 min: Free kick for Saints out on the left. Manning swings it in. It’s so easy for Verbruggen. Frustrated groans from the away end. “While the Seagulls are eating many bigger clubs’ lunches these heady days, it’s sad to see the Saints as the league’s bottom feeders,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Even if Russell Martin is a Buddhist, he might get canonized if he somehow manages to keep Southhampton up this season.”
