Hurzeler: Lack of professionalism cost Brighton in Wolves draw

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler accused his team of a lack of professionalism after they squandered a 2-0 lead with two minutes of the 90 remaining versus Wolves.

The Seagulls were on course for their fifth win of the season when goals from Danny Welbeck and Evan Ferguson gave them a comfortable lead, only for a remarkable collapse to cost them at the death.

Rayan Ait-Nouri halved Wolves’ deficit in the 88th minute, then Brighton missed a glorious four-on-one chance at one end and conceded a stoppage-time equaliser seconds later, Matheus Cunha powering home to double Wolves’ points tally for the campaign.

It was the first time Brighton had failed to win a Premier League game after leading by two goals since a 3-3 draw with Liverpool in October 2022, and Hurzeler has demanded they learn from the experience.

“We were not clean enough in the defending during the last 10 minutes. We were too passive and not professional enough to finish the game in an ugly way,” Hurzeler said.

“We haven’t managed this today, so we have to learn from it. Hopefully we learn quickly but how to manage a game and win in an ugly way is a big topic for us.

“It is important to also have bad experiences because if you only have good experiences, you won’t grow personally.

“In these moments, you can show your character and you can show how strong you are. You can lift yourself up and show a reaction.”

The result could prove to be a pivotal one for Wolves boss Gary O’Neil, who had come under pressure after a difficult start to the season, with his team already having faced Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City this term.

“Obviously coming back late gives everyone a lift. It was something we deserved from the game,” O’Neil said.

“It looked very unlikely at 85 minutes, of course, when we’d just gone 2-0 down, but in the second half we were the dominant side.

“To come here with where they are in the league, how well they’ve done against some really good sides recently, the players they have, the money they’ve spent in the summer… to come and be the better side for 45 minutes, the players deserve an awful lot of credit.

“We went about it in a strange way, but as it is at the moment, we decide to try and do it the hard way, and it ended up a little bit crazy at the end.

“But I’m delighted for the boys, because they’ve had some tough, tough breaks, some deflections go against us – [Fabian] Schar and the last-minute goal at the weekend.”