Brighton and Hove Albion vs Burnley. Premier League.
Amex StadiumAttendance29,921.
Saturday 16 December 2017 23:13, UK
Glenn Murray missed a first-half penalty as Brighton's winless run continued with a goalless draw at home to Burnley.
The Brighton striker could only fire his spot-kick over (36) after a tangle of legs with James Tarkowski, who was then fortunate to escape punishment for an apparent elbow on Murray in the box.
Burnley went closest to breaking the deadlock after the break, but Mat Ryan produced a stunning double save before Chris Wood was flagged for offside after tucking home the rebound.
The draw means Brighton have now gone seven Premier League games without victory, with just one goal in six games leaving them 13th in the table.
Meanwhile, Burnley failed to steal a march on Tottenham and Liverpool, with Arsenal leapfrogging Sean Dyche's side into fourth after squeezing past Newcastle.
A dominant first half from Brighton saw Lewis Dunk's effort inadvertently blocked by team-mate Shane Duffy before Murray sent a header straight at Nick Pope.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson then forced Ryan to make a smart save, while down the other end Anthony Knockaert hit the post and Dunk saw a header cleared off the line.
Brighton were controversially handed a penalty in the 35th minute as Murray went down after a coming together with Tarkowski - though the forward could only blaze the spot-kick wildly over.
An off-the-ball incident then went unnoticed by referee Chris Kavanagh, who could have easily shown red to Tarkowski and pointed to the spot once more after the Burnley defender appeared to elbow Murray in the ribs.
Burnley grew into the game after the break, but Ryan was there to superbly deny Scott Arfield twice in quick succession before Wood was deemed to be in an offside position when slotting the rebound in.
Wood then superbly held his run before being played through on goal, but after opting to lift his effort over Ryan, the Brighton 'keeper stood tall and ended up making the save with his face.
"Definitely a game of two halves. First half, Burnley were never in the game, but I didn't think it was a penalty, I thought it was a bit of tangled legs. Brighton were the much better team in the first half.
"They must gone into the dressing room and Sean Dyche must have said 'now go out and express yourselves.' And they were a completely different team, they played some great football, some great passing movements. Wood should have scored, he tried to dink the goalkeeper before they had one cleared off the line. It was sort of their plan, but it didn't quite come off."
The Brighton goalkeeper had little to do in the first half, but his contribution after the break ensured the hosts left with a deserved point.
The Australia international improvised brilliantly to deny Arfield twice, while his decision not to go down with Wood approaching paid dividends when the Burnley striker looked to chip it over him.
Chris Hughton: "Is it a worry that we're not scoring? Of course it is. That's normal, but it's a challenge that gives us something to work on.
"It's the area we need to improve the most. We can stay in games, but we need to find the formula to get these goals.
"Once you stop believing, it gets tougher, but I have good offensive players with belief that we can turn the corner."
Sean Dyche: "It was a hard-fought point on the back of another clean sheet. That's three clean sheets and seven points in a week in the Premier League, which is very difficult to get so we're pleased with that.
"I'm pleased with the performance overall, not as good as it has been, but three games in a week is hard physically.
"To handle the first half like we did - they came at us with a real head of steam trying to get something - and then to come strong in the second half was a good sign for our own side moving forward."
Brighton play host to Watford in the Premier League next Saturday at 3pm, while Burnley are also in action on the same day as they welcome Tottenham to Turf Moor in the evening kick-off.
