Mac Allister’s penalty bravery caps another fine away day for the Seagulls
Alexis Mac Alliser never doubted himself as dominant Brighton strolled to victory at Wolves to set a new club record and deliver a hammer blow to the hosts’ European hopes.
The Seagulls posted a new record points tally in the Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Molineux.
Alex Mac Allister recovered from an earlier penalty miss to score from the spot before Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma wrapped up victory.
Brighton climbed to ninth – on 44 points – to inflict Wolves’ heaviest home defeat of the season.
Mac Allister showed great nerve to take the second penalty as Trossard was keen to take responsibility.
Bissouma also wanted Trossard to take the spot kick following Mac Allister’s earlier miss but skipper Lewis Dunk handed the ball to Argentine who redeemed his earlier mistake.
“The second penalty was important for me because with the first one everyone knows what happened.
“Some people would think, ‘Oh, he is going to miss it,’ because I missed the first one but it wasn’t never in my thoughts.
“I knew that I was going to score and that is why I took it. “Leo wanted it and Bissouma wanted Leo to take it but I knew I would score. We have a list and I was on the list and I was on the pitch.” Skipper Lewis Dunk added: “I said to him after he scored ‘it takes big balls to do what you just did.’
“We are all delighted for him. It was a good performance. We controlled it and one of our best performances of the season.”
Mac Allister added: “I think the performance was very good. We scored three goals which was important for us and the fans. They always support us and we are very proud of them. Now we have three more matches and we will now try to get as many points as we can.”
Brighton have now set a new club record with 44 points in the Premier League to sit ninth.
“You could see the secondhalf performance was up another level from the first,” said boss Graham Potter.
“The boys looked hungry to score, enthusiastic to get forward.
“It was important for us to keep a clean sheet because we didn’t want to let them back into the game and I thought we managed the situation quite well.
“We defended when we had to and offered a threat on the way forward and nice to score three goals.”
Bruno Lage’s Wolves side failed to close the gap to the top seven and slip to a third straight loss.
They remain eighth in the Premier League, three points behind West Ham, and face Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in three of their final four games.
Wolves midfield man Pedro Neto cut a despondent figure after the match as the result placed a huge dent in their European hopes.
“When you have your goals, you want to achieve them. We want European football, we are working to that, but the last three games we were not happy,” he told the club’s official site.
“We have to create more, we have to score more goals. We are looking to work on that, finishing the best way.
“It was not a happy day for us. The last three games were not what we had in our mind. We have a lot to fight for. It’s becoming difficult but we have to continue to work to achieve our goals.
“I understand the frustration of the fans. We are here to fight, to work each day. Things are not happening, but we will continue to work to get the victory in the next game.”