Yahoo News Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton: Neal Maupay snatches last-gasp derby point for Seagulls at Selhurst Park
Neal Maupay struck a last-gasp equaliser for Brighton as Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira was denied a memorable win in his first derby fixture in charge at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles looked set to hold on for an impressive victory under the lights in south London after a late first-half penalty won by the excellent Conor Gallagher was converted coolly by Wilfried Zaha, who notched his eighth career goal against Brighton.
However, Maupay had other ideas and popped up with a fine lobbed finish over Vicente Guaita in the 95th minute to spark pandemonium in the away end, with tempers flaring at the final whistle.
Palace made much the brighter start to proceedings, with their aggressive approach and constant high pressing forcing Brighton into sloppy errors in defensive areas.
Jordan Ayew and Chelsea loanee Gallagher both saw early efforts blocked behind, while full debutant Odsonne Edouard’s snap shot was easily gathered by Robert Sanchez in the Brighton goal.
Palace captain Luka Milivojevic - starting for the first time this season - tried to catch out the Colombian goalkeeper with a sneaky free-kick to the front post that flew wide, though Brighton then began to come back into the contest as Leandro Trossard flicked Pascal Gross’ cutback into the side netting.
Danny Welbeck was sent through by a route-one ball from Sanchez, but could not beat Guaita and was denied a penalty after feeling his heel was clipped by Joel Ward.
However, referee Andre Marriner did point to the spot at the other end on the stroke of half-time after the menacing Gallagher cut into the box and was pushed off balance by Marc Cucurella before being clumsily barged over by Trossard.
Zaha sent Sanchez the wrong way from the spot to net for the fifth straight home derby against Brighton at Selhurst.
Guaita was called into action again early in the second half when he tipped Lewis Dunk’s tricky header from a free-kick over the crossbar.
Sanchez then made a fine close-range stop to deny Zaha, but the offside flag went up against the Palace talisman after he had been played in behind Joel Veltman.
Graham Potter sent on Steven Alzate at half-time as he tweaked his system in an attempt to get back into the game, but the midfielder sustained an ankle injury during a tussle with Ayew and had to be replaced by Jakub Moder. Welbeck also went off injured before Saturday’s meeting with former club Arsenal.
Palace missed a glorious chance to double their lead with just over 10 minutes remaining when Cucurella gave the ball away to Gallagher, with substitute Christian Benteke then waiting for the perfect moment to release Ayew, who could only shoot into the side netting.
Brighton forged a good chance as the clock hit 90 minutes, but Shane Duffy could only glance Gross’ free-kick into the hands of Guaita.
They would not be denied their equaliser, however, with Maupay expertly lobbing Guaita, whose poor goal kick had been sent straight back forward by Veltman.
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