Sunderland 0-2 Brighton: Ten-Man Seagulls Secure Third Straight Clean Sheet

Brighton secured a 2-0 victory against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, maintaining their hold on third place in the Premier League table with their third straight clean-sheet win. Fabian Hürzeler’s side achieved the result despite playing more than half an hour with 10 men after Pascal Struijk was shown a straight red card.

Pascal Gross Assists Brighton Goal and Reaches Milestone

After a scoreless first half that saw Struijk head against an upright, Brighton broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second period. Captain Pascal Gross created the opening goal, finding Maxim De Cuyper in acres of space in the box to drill a low shot past goalkeeper Robin Roefs. With this contribution, the 35-year-old Gross became the oldest player to provide an assist in three successive top-flight games since Ryan Giggs in February 2012.

The visitors were rarely troubled even after being reduced to 10 men just before the hour mark, when referee Bramall — following a VAR review by Neil Davies — decided Struijk had hauled down Wilson Isidor as the Sunderland striker broke clear on goal. Former Premier League referee Mike Dean reacted on Soccer Saturday to call the decision very harsh.

Victory Sealed in Stoppage Time

Substitute Jaouen Hadjam sealed the match report triumph deep in stoppage time. Fellow substitute Georginio Rutter did well to hold the ball up before feeding Hadjam in space, and the Algerian fired into the bottom right-hand corner from a tight angle to boost Brighton’s points tally to 13.

It wasn’t easy but we always had this belief we could get something here, Hürzeler said after the match. We keep clean sheets and we always have chances to score. We’ve always played good football, but I don’t want us just to be known as a nice team anymore.

The result leaves Sunderland stuck on four points with a solitary Premier League victory this season, as Régis Le Bris’ side prepares for a Europa League meeting with Torreense.