BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) -Brighton & Hove Albion’s search for a return to winning ways in the Premier League continues after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.
After three league games without a win, a dominant first-half performance where Evan Ferguson scored his fifth goal of the season in the 26th minute looked to have set up Brighton to claim victory.
Pascal Gross bided his time before playing a pass through to Ferguson and the Irish striker’s first touch saw him control with his right before side-footing a left-foot shot past Fulham keeper Bernd Leno.
With Brighton’s attacks as persistent as the rain which fell all afternoon, they should have been further ahead before the interval after dominating possession and chances on goal, but were made to pay by Joao Palhinha in the 65th minute.
The visitors made the most of Brighton’s poor attempt to play out from the back, when Alex Iwobi gained possession before Mahmoud Dahoud’s pass fell to Palhinha who drilled his shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Brighton remain in seventh place, level on 17 points with Newcastle United, and Fulham stay in 14th with 12 points.
Brighton’s first attack came in the seventh minute which saw Leno pulling off two saves. First, he pushed away a Carlos Baleba curling shot and then Adam Lallana’s cross was almost bundled into the net by Simon Adingra but Leno kept it out.
Brighton had further chances either side of Ferguson’s goal, but a mixture of poor finishing and Leno’s fine goalkeeping meant Fulham were still in the tie going into the second half.
After the break it was Brighton who again came closest to extending their lead when Lewis Dunk’s free kick rocked the top of the crossbar, but it was Fulham who found the equaliser.
Both sides had chances to win the game as Fulham grew in belief having finally found the net, but an entertaining tie ended in a draw.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Clare Fallon)
