BRIGHTON continued their woeful trend of no wins in December as they were held to a 0-0 bore draw with Sunderland.
The Seagulls have now gone ten games without a win in the month, since beating Spurs in 2023.
Brighton and Sunderland played out a goalless Premier League draw
Sunderland are still targeting the top four
Brighton are two points adrift the European spots
Brighton and Sunderland proved to be even
Sunderland did well to weather the storm of six of their players on international duty at AFCON, including two main starters Noah Sadiki and Reinildo Mandava.
Brighton started brightly with Maxim De Cuyper lashing in an early corner, which Mats Wiefer steered towards goal with his noggin – but it stung the hands of Robin Roefs.
The Black Cats later hit back and Enzo Le Fee twisted inside and out of Jack Hinshelwood before firing straight at Verbruggen.
The first-half was as drab as the slate grey skies over the Amex and both sets of fans were getting twitchy.
Another dodgy tackle from Brighton’s Diego Coppola, this time on Le Fee, prompted a booking from referee Darren England.
A desperate scramble in the box saw Le Fee unleash a low drive, but it was blocked well by Brighton.
And the home side scuppered a golden chance when Yankuba Minteh sent an inch-perfect cross into the box, but De Cuyper made a mess of his run and didn’t get to it.
Brighton then nearly gifted Sunderland a goal as Verbruggen and Brajan Gruda scrambled to get to the ball but the Seagulls stopper sent it straight back out to Brian Brobbey, who was unable to make the crucial touch.
The Black Cats reemerged from the restart with a spring in their step and after just one minute a bullet Omar Alderete header forced Verbruggen into a blinding save as he tipped it over.
The hosts responded with a number of wild, long-range efforts to a chorus of “oohs” and “aahs” from the home fans.
Fabian Hurzeler had seen enough and hauled off De Cuyper for the big guns, Kaoru Mitoma while Sunderland’s Romaine Mundle replaced Simon Adingra.
Seven minutes later James Milner replaced Hinshelwood and Charalampos Kostoulas came on for Minteh.
Mitoma injected some much-needed life into Brighton as he shimmied beyond the Sunderland shirts to create space.
Brighton scuppered another peach of a chance as Kostoulas cut back for Yasin Ayari, but he fired it over – which was the story of the night.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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