Southampton’s winless run in the Premier League continued on Friday evening, as a contentious VAR decision denied the Saints a much-needed victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. The 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium was a frustrating result for Russell Martin’s side, who remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
The match was a closely contested affair, with both teams creating chances throughout. Brighton took the lead in the 30th minute through Kaoru Mitoma’s header, but Southampton equalized in the 58th minute through Flynn Downes’s strike. The Saints thought they had taken the lead just three minutes later, but Cameron Archer’s goal was disallowed after a lengthy VAR check.
The decision was a contentious one, with many feeling that Adam Armstrong’s offside position had not affected the play. Martin was left frustrated by the decision, and felt that it had cost his team a valuable victory.
“I’m fed up talking about decisions,” Martin said in his post-match press conference. “We were told it affects Bart Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball, but I don’t see how Adam’s run affected the goalkeeper. It’s a tough one to take, but we have to move on.”
The VAR delay led to 13 minutes of added time, and Brighton nearly snatched victory at the death. However, the Saints held on to claim a valuable point, and Martin was proud of his team’s resilience.
“I’m proud of the way the players responded to the VAR decision,” Martin said. “We could have easily let our heads drop, but we kept fighting and got a point. It’s not the win we wanted, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was left to rue his team’s missed opportunities, and felt that they had deserved more than a point.
“We had some good chances in the first half, but we didn’t take them,” Hurzeler said. “In the end, we got a point, but we could have had more. We’ll keep working and try to improve our finishing.”
The draw leaves Brighton in second place in the Premier League table, but Hurzeler knows that his team still has a lot of work to do.
“We’re in a good position, but we can’t get too comfortable,” Hurzeler said. “We have to keep working and try to improve our performances. We’ll take it one game at a time and see where it takes us.”
As for Southampton, the draw leaves them four points adrift of safety, and Martin knows that his team needs to start picking up wins soon.
“We need to start winning games, and we need to start winning them quickly,” Martin said. “We’ve got a tough run of fixtures coming up, but we’re confident that we can get the results we need. We just need to keep working and believing in ourselves.”
