Tottenham Hotspur remain in the Premier League bottom three after Brighton scored in second-half stoppage time to rescue a point in north London.
In what was Roberto De Zerbi’s first home game in charge of Spurs, the hosts’ longest winless run in more than 90 years was extended to 15 games after Georginio Rutter levelled with just two minutes remaining to cancel out a wonderful Xavi Simons goal.
Simons thought he had given his team a vital three points with a fantastic strike with less than a quarter of an hour to go.
It came after Pedro Porro had put De Zerbi’s men in front before Kaoru Mitoma brought the scores level on the stroke of half-time.
The result does little to ease the woes of Tottenham fans, while Brighton stay in the running for a European place.
An even first half
With Spurs starting brightly, Brighton were forced into an early change when Diego Gomez hobbled off after 20 minutes. Seconds later, the Seagulls nearly found themselves a goal down when a deflected Simons effort skidded inches past the post.
Despite the hosts’ promising start, they then found themselves millimeters from going behind just after the half-hour mark when a teasing cross from Yankuba Minteh was headed back across goal.
Under pressure from Danny Welbeck and facing his own goal, Micky van de Ven hit the ball onto the post, before it somehow tricked across the line and squirmed wide.
The offside flag eventually went up, but the Spurs defence was appearing to wobble.
However, just minutes later, Porro headed Tottenham in front when a delightful chipped ball into the box from Simons was met by the Spaniard, who nodded past the hapless Bart Verbruggen.
With the momentum in their favour, Simons went close to doubling the advantage when his low effort came back off the post into the path of Porro. From the follow-up, the defender lashed a strike that was well tipped over by the Brighton keeper.
But on the stroke of half-time, the home crowd was silenced when Mitoma hit an exquisite first-time finish into the roof of the net from a narrow angle to bring Brighton level.
Super Simons strike gives Spurs hope
It was a largely cagey affair for 30 minutes after the break. That ended with less than a quarter of an hour remaining when substitute Lucas Bergvall won the ball back high up the pitch.
He fed Simons who stood his man up, before dropping the shoulder and unleashing an unstoppable curling effort that nestled into the net via the post.
It was a strike worthy of winning any match. But it proved not to be the case as Rutter smashed home the equaliser in stoppage time following a Kevin Danso error to break Tottenham hearts.
