BRIGHTON thought confirming their survival was a slam-Dunk.
Instead, it turned into a slam-FLUNK as their goal-scoring hero Lewis Dunk was red-carded to leave ten-men Brighton at Wolves’ mercy.
And there was more misery at full-time when Neal Maupay was sent off for some ill-advised comments to ref Jon Moss.
By then the damage was done after Wolves pulled off a late smash-and-grab job.
The home side smelled blood when the Seagulls’ inspirational skipper Dunk was red-carded for tugging Fabio Silva’s shirt as the 18-year-old threatened to burst clear on goal, eight minutes into the second half.
Nuno Espirito went in for the kill, sending on super-sub Adama Traore who scored a stunner to cancel out Dunk’s first-half header.
Morgan Gibbs-White then hung his head in shame when he fired over with the goal at his mercy, six minutes from the end after Traore had charged down a Rui Patricio clearance to set him up.
However the 21-year-old made amends in the 90th minute when he broke Brighton hearts with a dramatic winner.
Although his first attempt inside the box was blocked, the midfielder reacted brilliantly to sweep the ball beyond Robert Sanchez at the second attempt for his first top-flight goal.
It was the former England youth international’s first-ever Premier League goal as Nuno’s team once again saved their best until the second half.
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But they were given a huge helping hand by Dunk, who had earlier powered Brighton into an early lead as the Seagulls dominated.
Albion’s 29-year-old skipper thought he had sealed his side’s Premier League status with his fifth goal of the season.
Pascal Gross swept in a teasing corner on 13 minutes and Dunk soared majetically to power his header beyond Patricio from 12 yards.
The fact Dunk had Ruben Neves and Ki-Jana Hoever hanging off him at the time made the contest look even more of a mismatch as Wolves blockers failed to do their job.
But it all went wrong for Brighton when Dunk tried to swap shirts with Silva.
Unfortunately for the defender, the Portuguese kid was bursting through on goal at the time – leaving Moss with no other option than to send him packing.
And there was more red-card misery to follow after the final whistle for Brighton as Maupay was dismissed by ref Moss for foul and abusive language.
Graham Potter will now hope Fulham lose to Burnley tomorrow to confirm his side’s status in the top flight, after he must have thought it was in the bag.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
