Gross is a net gain for flying Seagulls

FOR 66 minutes it looked as if their lack of a clinical striker was going to cost Brighton again.

Thankfully for Graham Potter, he has a midfielder who is more than capable of finding the back of the net. Pascal Gross scored the only goal here to hand Leeds their first defeat of the season. Gross has already bettered his goal tally for the previous campaign and was by far the best player on the pitch at the Amex.

In truth, he got his team-mates Solly March and Leandro Trossard out of jail. Both were guilty of wasting decent chances here, but in the end it did not matter.

Failing to make the most of opportunities was Brighton’s downfall last season and it is a problem they still need to solve.

Potter’s side are solid in every other department. Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster have forged a fine partnership at the back while Moises Caicedo looks at home in midfield alongside Gross and Alexis Mac Allister. A striker is the final piece of the jigsaw for Potter, but finding one is not easy.

‘How you get points in this league is you score one more goal than the opponent and there’s only eight teams that did it better than us last year,’ Potter said. ‘So far, there’s a couple of teams that have done it better than us this year.

‘You can talk about individuals and you can mention the 20-goala-season striker that apparently we should sign, but there are two of those in the Premier League. So it’s not so simple.’

For Leeds, it was a frustrating afternoon from start to finish, summed up by manager Jesse Marsch, who was booked for slamming the ball down on the touchline before sarcastically applauding referee Michael Salisbury. But he could have no complaints about his side’s defeat. They were second best throughout and could have lost by more.

‘We had guys free-styling today,’ fumed Marsch. ‘In the build-up phase they [his Leeds players] were trying things that we never talked about. We were really lucky to get out of the first half at 0-0.’

Webster should have put Brighton in front in the 17th minute when he met Gross’ freekick, but the defender could only head wide from close range.

Leeds did not manage an effort on target until the 44th minute, when Dan James’ shot-cum-cross was beaten away by Robert Sanchez. Brighton almost had the lead moments after half-time as Gross flicked a Pervis Estupinan cross just wide of the far post.

But an even better chance went begging minutes later. A sublime pass from Gross put March through one-on-one with Illan Meslier. The winger tried to chip the ball over the on-rushing keeper but his effort was poor and Meslier stood tall to make the block.

Substitute Luis Sinisterra almost had an instant impact for Leeds as he slid-in at the back post after Estupinan’s wayward clearance went goalwards, but the winger could not finish.

That miss summed up the first hour of this game but finally a moment of class came in the 66th minute. A slick passing move involving Estupinan and Danny Welbeck saw the ball end up with Trossard, who laid it off to Gross on the edge of the box. The midfielder calmly swept a finish into the bottom-left corner.

‘Pascal is performing at probably the highest level of his career,’ Potter said. ‘If other people can score and take the weight off this 20-goal striker that we’re going to get then that will help us!’

For Brighton, it is now five clean sheets in a nine-game unbeaten run and just one defeat in their last 13 league games. With 10 points from a possible 12, the Seagulls are flying.