Ton-up Murray is in mint condition
BRIGHTON 1 WOLVES 0
ON a day that Wolves’ young side outplayed their hosts, it was left to two Brighton players with a combined age of 73 to provide a brutal reminder of the realities of the Premier League. Bruno, 38, and Glenn Murray, 35, demonstrated the knowhow and precision that only extended careers in the game can develop. Brighton won courtesy of Murray’s 48th minute strike — his 100th goal for the club — despite recording only one corner and one shot on target to leave Wolves’ players scratching their heads and wondering where it had all gone wrong. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo need not look far for the answer. His side had 25 shots on goal and failed to score. They have now had 145 shots in 10 games but only managed to turn nine of those into goals. ‘We just couldn’t put the ball in the net,’ wing-back Matt Doherty said. ‘But one day it will come and we will give someone a hiding.’ While Wolves are enduring some teething issues, Brighton are getting the job done. A third consecutive 1-0 victory has taken Chris Hughton’s team nine points clear of the drop zone. Two of those goals have come from Murray and Bruno’s return to the back line has brought improvement. Improbably, Bruno coped imperiously with the pace of Adama Traore, 16 years his junior, and even broke beyond the winger for Brighton’s goal, as he fired low and hard across the box, where Murray turned the ball in. Murray, who had to be taken off on a stretcher after getting knocked out and suffering concussion in Brighton’s 1-0 win at Newcastle in the previous fixture, followed the FA’s guidance on concussion injuries, waiting six days to return. ‘I was obviously groggy the first few days. I did memory tests to make sure there has been no aftermath. I felt good to play.’ Murray, who is the top-scoring Englishman in the Premier League with six, remembers his first Brighton goals — in League One against Crewe in 2008 — clearly. ‘I got two that day,’ Murray said. ‘Then there was a silly celebration, a sort of Ring-ARing-A-Roses — it was Guy Butters who made us do that. You didn’t say no to Guy when you were new at the club!’