Getting even a point at Brighton and Hove Albion’s new stadium is a rare enough event for us, but we came away feeling disappointed that we hadn’t managed to secure a first ever win at the Amex.

Gudmundsson was back from injury to reclaim his place at left back, and Farke took the opportunity to move Justin into his three-man central defence as Rodon’s replacement. Which doesn’t augur well for Bijol after his difficult start to the season, if the manager would rather play a full-back there out of position.

Leeds looked much the better side in the early stages of the game, drawing confidence from our unbeaten start to the season in all competitions. Calvert-Lewin shot wide and Dunk did well to block a shot from Okafor, but our pressure paid off in the 15th minute when we took the lead. Aided by some very slack Brighton defending.

A move from a throw-in ended with Elvedi picking out an unmarked Calvert-Lewin, who should have done better than place his header close enough to Verbruggen for the keeper to make a save. Tanaka was first to the rebound, but with Verbruggen in front of him he elected to send the ball across the face of goal, and Bogle came in on the far post to knock the ball into the net.

This caused the first of a number of offside debates at key moments, as the Brighton defence appealed en masse, but on this occasion VAR ruled in our favour, as Bogle had been behind the ball when Tanaka played it. We continued to dominate the game, and created several good opportunities to double our lead.

Calvert-Lewin was played clean through on goal and looked well offside, but in fact the ball had come off a Brighton player as he made a tackle. DCL went round the keeper, but didn’t quite get enough pace on his shot, allowing Dunk to race back and block the shot at the expense of a corner. This came through to Tanaka beyond the far post, but when he hit his shot into the ground he did so with a bit too much power, and the ball bounced over the bar.

Brighton did manage to get back into the game and create a few chances of their own before halftime, the first coming when a free kick was played short to Gross, and his powerful shot went just over the bar. Then a cross beyond the far post found Gomez unmarked, but Trafford was well placed to save his powerful volley.

The second half proved to be far more even, as Brighton woke up a bit, but we still had a couple of great opportunities to put the game to bed. After an Ampadu long throw the ball came down from a crowd of players into Stach’s path right in front of goal, but he put his shot too close to Verbruggen, so the keeper was able to save with his legs.

And then came the moment when we really thought we had sealed it, when Tanaka volleyed a free kick into the back of the net. But despite the lack of a flag in the stadium, VAR belatedly ruled that AO had gone slightly too soon, so the goal was ruled out by the width of a toenail. I’m not a fan of the players standing in an offside position before a free kick is taken, as it does run the risk of this sort of thing.

On the hour Brighton were the next to go close, after tt looked like Bogle had been fouled inside our half, but the referee didn’t oblige, and the move ended with Gross sending the ball just wide of the post. It was a this point that Farke made the first of his subs, and while he usually gets plaudits most of the time for making changes that get us back into a game, this time he seemed to want to go a little more defensive and protect the lead we had.

But that simply served to sap a bit of our momentum, and invited a bit of pressure. Bijol and Aaronson replaced Bogle and Okafor, giving us a bit more grit, but at the expense of players who were making a difference when they went forward. And on 71 minutes the home side grabbed the equaliser.

A corner came all the way across to Vuskovic beyond the far post, who Gudmunsson was never going to be able to outjump being around six inches taller than the man he was trying to mark. Vuskovic duly accepted the invitation to head Brighton level, the ball passing Trafford’s star jump on it’s way into the net.

That prompted Farke to give us some fresh legs up front, with Wilson and Nmecha replacing Calvert-Lewin and the hard working Tanaka, but we couldn’t re-establish the dominance we enjoyed in the first half. And much as our overall performance deserved at least a point, we could have lost the game right at the end.

On 89 minutes a cross found Gross, and when his header was blocked it bounced up for him to swing a leg at it, but thankfully a bit too high for him to control the shot, and he sent it over the bar. At the other end Nmecha sent our final shot of the game just wide, and we would have to wait a little longer for that elusive first win at the AMEX.

At the post-match press conference Daniel Farke said "It's a very good start for us - two difficult away games. It can always be better, but overall it's a good start and we are happy with it. We started our pressing on the front foot and wanted to make sure we didn’t allow them to play their process. We had many good wins of the ball and played also with confidence”.

And he compared this performance with the game last season, when a 3-0 defeat in November was part of a poor run of results that seemed to be dragging us into the depths of a relegation battle. “We are much more settled right now, much safer in our processes. In order to be there with a competitive game, this is what we showed today.”

Whilst it’s disappointing that we didn’t manage to take the opportunity to grab all three points, if we can maintain the form we have shown so far, we should be well clear of trouble this time around, and could well be heading for a top half finish.

Reuters