Brighton 0 Wolves 0: Wasteful Seagulls lose precious ground on rivals for European place in bore draw
JAMES MILNER moved into second place on the all-time Premier League appearance list to liven up Monday night’s 0-0 bore draw between Brighton and Wolves.
A man that has amassed over half a million followers on a parody Twitter account called Boring Milner became the most exciting story at the Amex.
He produced another gut-busting shift on his 633rd Prem appearance to move ahead Ryan Giggs and 20 behind Gareth Barry on the all time list.
Milner made his debut on 10 November 2002 and is the first player to play in the division at every age from 16 to 38.
David James, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe, Paolo di Canio, Ian Harte, Lee Bowyer, Nick Barmby, Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka were some of the legends that Milner shared the pitch with on his debut back then.
And he helped Brighton to only their second clean sheet of the season in their first game back in 16-days after their warm weather training camp in Dubai.
Meanwhile it is a sign of the times that Wolves are now unbeaten in each of their last four Prem games.
They just missed out on matching a run of four successive wins in top-flight matches – which last came back in January 1972 under Bill McGarry.
Brighton sizzled early on as Jason Steele lasered the silkiest of passes 65-yards into the feet of Facundo Buonanotte which resulted in a fierce low drive from Joao Pedro being charged down.
Local lads Lewis Dunk and Jack Hinshelwood linked up with the prettiest of passing sequences before the ball fell to Danny Welbeck who fired just over the crossbar.
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Brighton were back at it again and a desperate scramble in the box ended with Tommy Doyle clearing a sprawling header from Buonanotte just three-yards out.
Pedro Neto, on his first start since October 28, had Wolves fans licking their chops after shaving the post with a rasping shot for the visitors’ best chance of the first-half.
Neto’s return to the starting XI is a major boost to Wolves given he notched seven assists in his last eight Premier League starts, including in each of his last three starts in the competition, and he dazzled throughout.
But Brighton didn’t let up and Jose Sa was forced to make a superb save with his fingertips after a Pascal Gross free-kick fell onto Jan Paul van Hecke’s noggin and towards goal.
Tempers flared just before half-time as Gary O’Neil and Roberto De Zerbi went head to head after Craig Dawson clipped Billy Gilmour with a stray boot.
Wolves’ goalkeeping coach Neil Cutler was embroiled in the melee and was booked in the aftermath, sparking chants of “lanky p***” from the boistrous home fans.
The handbags continued at the break as livid Wolves players were in referee Craig Pawson’s face as he blew the whistle as Pawson was on the attack.
Wolves emerged from the restart with a rocket up their jacksies and Neto found Matheus Cunha who was unable to beat Steele with back to back strikes.
Brighton hit back strongly and Nelson Semedo snaffled up Joao Pedro as he was just breaking free in front of goal.
Max Kilman then slid in with a jaw-dropping tackle to deny Pedro smack bang in front of goal again.
Just over the hour mark De Zerbi had seen enough and hauled off Welbeck for Evan Ferguson and Buonanotte for Tariq Lamptey – who had only played 34 minutes since October 5 due to injury before last night.
Wolves had a late flurry of chances with Neto, Cunha and Mario Lemina all coming close.
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