Resilient Tottenham battle back to earn 2-2 draw at Brighton
BRIGHTON, England :Tottenham Hotspur battled from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Brighton & Hove Albion with Jan Paul van Hecke's own goal giving the visitors a deserved share of the spoils on Saturday.
Van Hecke turned in a cross by Mohammed Kudus in the 82nd minute of an entertaining clash on the south coast with the point moving Spurs into second place in the Premier League.
It was a stark contrast to the same fixture last season when Tottenham, then under Ange Postecoglou, led 2-0 but collapsed to a 3-2 defeat. This time, with Thomas Frank at the helm, they showed far more resilience and could have even snatched the three points at the end.
"I thought we looked extremely strong. I am very happy with the overall performance," said Frank, whose side have 10 points from five games with their only league loss coming at home to Bournemouth. "It was potentially our best performance of the season.
"What I loved from the players was the mentality. This group came here last year, went 2-0 up and then lost 3-2, now we are 2-0 down and get 2-2, and we are closer to the three points."
Brighton, who will also feel they should have picked up their second win of the season, have five points.
"We have to be more ruthless sometimes; be more stable in some moments," Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said. "But we have to see the positives."
Tottenham began the game in strong fashion with Kudus a lively presence but they fell behind to a sucker punch.
Brighton stopped a Tottenham attack and Georginio Rutter's first-time pass sent Gambia forward Yankuba Minteh, who was just onside, racing clear to coolly round Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and score with ease.
Tottenham then gifted the hosts a second goal with Lucas Bergvall giving away the ball deep on the right before Yasin Ayari struck a right-footed angled drive that Vicario should have kept out after getting a hand to it.
Richarlison pulled back a goal just before halftime, stabbing in from close range after controlling a low pass into the area by Kudus, and Tottenham dominated the second half.
Substitute Xavi Simons was especially lively and was denied by a great save from Bart Verbruggen before side-footing another chance wide after more good work by Kudus.
Tottenham plugged away though and when Kudus again delivered a dangerous ball across the area it struck the thigh of Van Hecke and nestled in the goal.
"We defended well except the 2-0 goal," Frank said. "We created so many opportunities and dominated."
