Trossard shines on debut as Brighton draw with West Ham

LONDON: Brighton & Hove Albion debutant Leandro Trossard’s superb strike cancelled out a second-half goal by West Ham’s Javier Hernandez in an entertaining 1-1 Premier League draw at the Amex Stadium yesterday.

West Ham went in front in the 61st minute through Mexican striker Hernandez who ran onto a pass by Manuel Lanzini and tucked the ball past Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan.

New signing Trossard had a goal disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the first half and missed another chance but the Belgian was not to be denied four minutes later as he blasted home from distance after West Ham failed to clear.

Brighton substitute Neal Maupay, who scored on debut in last weekend’s 3-0 win at Watford, had a chance to win it but fired over in the 72nd minute with only West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to beat after a perfect assist by Glenn Murray.

“I thought the performance was really

good. We played better than we did last week but now we go forwards,” Brighton manager Graham Potter said.

“We were the better team after the first 10 minutes. The level of football was good but we know we can improve as well.”

Trossard thought he had put Brighton ahead when he volleyed in from close range in the 27th minute but the goal was disallowed after defender Dan Burn was ruled offside before providing the assist.

“The players really responded to the goal being ruled out and then going behind. It was slightly against the run of play to go behind, but the great thing about these players is we always keep fighting,” Potter added.

“There’s a long way to go but the signs are good. The points return looks good. Performances are the things we want to focus on and we’ll look to do that next week and going forwards.”

West Ham, who looked more settled after Michail Antonio was introduced at halftime, also had their opportunities to take all three points as the match wore on but Brighton held on firmly to remain unbeaten after two games.

“A draw is a fair result. In the second half both teams played better,” West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini said. “We know Hernandez can score... it was important not to lose a second game in a row.”

Brighton next host Southampton on Aug. 24 while West Ham travel to Watford on the same day. —Reuters