Brighton 3-3 Brentford: Beautiful chaos between Seagulls and Bees

Ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages, let us take you back to the first weekend of April 12 months before Brighton 3-3 Brentford.

This time last year, we were sat here having just witnessed the Albion draw 0-0 at home with rock bottom Norwich City.

Graham Potter told us it was a good result against a fantastic team, presumably because he was desperate to portray every Premier League point as a miracle that we should be eternally thankful to his genius for earning.

The reality of course was that it was an absolutely dire 90 minutes of football. It extended Brighton’s winless streak to seven games and meant the home support had not seen a goal since Adam Webster crashed home a header against Chelsea in January.

Three months without a goal at the Amex. Forget “history lessons”, at any other club in the country, Potter would have been hounded out for that. He never knew how good he had it at the Albion.

That Norwich game was mind numbingly boring, a total waste of 90 minutes of everyone’s lives. In contrast, Brighton 3-3 Brentford was one of the most entertaining matches the Amex has ever seen.

Not only that, but with the way other results went in the Premier League, it was a highly useful point for the Albion. Especially with the manner in which the draw was rescued so late in the day.

Roberto De Zerbi hailed the performance as fantastic. That the Albion were treated to a standing ovation afterwards says everything. It was full throttle football of the sort which deserves to be seen in Europe next season.

Brentford need credit too. A lot of Brighton supporters thought they would sit back and try and defend their way to a point or a snatching of all three.

That was not the case. Yes, the Bees did sit deep. But their success this season has been based on being an effective side on the counter attack.

Playing a Brighton team whose mantra under De Zerbi is to attack, attack, attack, the result was two totally different strategies working against each other to produce a fascinating stalemate. It was football as chess – The Queen’s Gambit minus the lovely Anya Taylor-Joy.

The European Super League Elite Six spend billions of pounds trying to serve up entertainment like this. Brighton and Brentford do it on a fraction of the budget; indeed, the recently released financial results of both clubs for 2021-22 show that these were two of the three lowest paid squads in the Premier League last season.

A case in point came from the Albion’s first goal of the afternoon. Free transfer signing from Sunderland Jason Steele leathered a pinpoint ball over the top of the Bees defence for £2.7 million winger Kaoru Mitoma to race onto and finish.

Steele now has more assists in the Premier League this season than Chelsea’s £88.5 million forward signing Mykhailo Mudryk. Is it even worth mentioning Mitoma’s numbers in comparison? Just the 10 goals and six assists from 28 matches.

Sorry to mention Glow Up again, but we now surely have to acknowledge that the lack of goals his Brighton team scored was not down to the failure to sign a big-money striker as opposed to his tactics failing to get the best out of attacking talent?

Brentford took the lead 11 minutes before Mitoma struck with a goal of sheer simplicity. Mathias Jensen crossed and Bees captain Pontus Jansson escaped the attentions of Lewis Dunk far too easily to score a powerful header which left Steele with no chance. Gareth Southgate enjoyed that, no doubt.

Next we were treated to one of the most beautiful sights in football – an indirect free kick in the box. Quite what Steele was thinking when he picked up a fairly obvious pass back nobody knows.

What followed was glorious. All 10 outfield players plus Steele gathered on the goal line to try and block as Ivan Toney laid off to Jensen.

Rarely do you see that sort of opportunity converted and it was the case here, a blue and white shirt charging down and blocking the effort before Brighton scrambled clear. It was a chaotic moment which summed up the 90 minutes nicely.

The equaliser from Mitoma was the sort of goal which Potter would never have allowed to happen. Steele saw an opening and went long with a 70 yard pass. The Japanese Bullet Train raced onto it and produced a superb lofted finish over David Raya.

Not that parity lasted long. Brighton supporters had barely finished celebrating and taunting the away end with chants of “Who are ya” when Brentford retook the lead.

Less than 90 seconds had elapsed when a Joel Veltman throw was too easily won by Ben Mee charging forward from centre back. Mee’s header found Toney in one-on-one with Steele and you would bet you mortgage on the England international scoring.

Toney duly did (score, not bet his mortgage, although…) and Brentford were back in front. The “Who are ya” chants now came from the Brentford support with the Amex shell shocked.

There were just six minutes to wait for equaliser number two this time around. March hung up a lovely cross to the back post where Danny Welbeck rose like the proverbial salmon to head down past Raya.

Still the chances kept coming. The impressive Jansson was not far away with an ambitious and spectacular bicycle kick. If Mitoma was an inch taller, he would have converted another dangerous ball in from March.

Dunk thought he was Cristiano Ronaldo and went for a free kick from 30 yards easily saved by Raya. A Welbeck effort from a Mitoma ball lacked the required power to trouble the Bees goalkeeper.

Forget Brighton 3-3 Brentford by full time, it could easily have been 6-6 going into the break. And it did not take long into the second half for the Bees to take the lead for the third time.

Four minutes to be precise and again, the Albion’s defending was questionable. Bryan Mbeumo sent a free kick into the box from 40 yards and Ethan Pinnock got between Pervis Estupinan and Levi Colwill to volley home at the back post.

De Zerbi was absolutely livid. The good news for Brighton is that they were probably spared his wrath by being superb over the next 41 minutes, which eventually led to Alexis Mac Allister making it Albion 3-3 Brentford with 89 on the clock.

Before that, the Seagulls fashioned a succession of chances, most of which were expertly repelled by Raya. Moises Caicedo, March and Veltman were all denied by the Spanish goalkeeper, whilst Estupinan blasted wastefully over from close range.

Substitute Deniz Undav looked to have done the same with the game entering the final seconds of normal time. Not many home fans in the crowd spotted the handball which Undav began begging referee Michael Oliver to take a look at.

VAR got involved at that point and Mr Oliver duly headed to the screen. The result was the official concluding that Aaron Hickey had used his hand to deflect Undav’s effort over the bar.

The Albion had a penalty and Mac Allister converted to make it Brighton 3-3 Brentford. At which point, you could have been forgiven for thinking the drama was done and dusted.

Not so. Incredibly, Hickey went for another handball minutes later from a March cross. The fact that most of the crowd noticed this one suggested it was more obvious than the first, yet neither VAR or Mr Oliver were interested.

It must be said at this point that the referee was excellent all afternoon and played his part in ensuring such an enthralling game of football took place. That nobody was overly bothered about the non-award of a second penalty right at the death says everything.

An injury time Brighton winner would have been the icing on the cake. And whilst three points would have been nice, nobody left the Amex disappointed with the fare they had been served up.

In stark contrast to that Norwich game 12 months ago. What a difference a year can make.