‘Brutal’ – Patrick Vieira on Palace seeing victory over arch-rivals Brighton get snatched away in final seconds

Patrick Vieira called Brighton & Hove Albion’s last-minute equaliser against Crystal Palace “brutal” after his side conceded with the last kick of the game thanks to a Neal Maupay chip from the edge of the box.

The Eagles took the lead in the first half through Wilfried Zaha, who slotted home a penalty on his 400th appearance for the South Londoners to take the lead.

However, despite being the dominant team over the majority of the game, Maupay scored for Graham Potter’s side in the final minute of the match when he broke past Marc Guehi and lobbed Vicente Guaita to steal two points away from Palace.

“We had a good game,” said Vieira. “It was really challenging, against a really good team. We scored before half-time, and then in the second half, we did not create many chances. And then we conceded that goal at the end. It is brutal, and I am really disappointed for the players. They worked hard to get that win. To concede a goal like that is brutal.

“The last 15 to 20 minutes, we went a bit backwards because we did not put enough pressure on the ball – we allowed them too much to play the long ball.

“The way we conceded the goal was a goal-kick for us, and you don’t expect to concede a goal. Our organisation at that moment wasn’t good enough to manage that second ball. We have to look at it again because we have to try to improve those kinds of mistakes to have a chance of winning games and taking three points.

“When you look at our game tonight, it was really good. That is why conceding the goal that we did at the end was brutal for us.”

The Eagles were presented with an opportunity to wrap up all three points when Jordan Ayew was played through on goal by Christian Benteke. But the Ghanaian, who was one-on-one with Robert Sanchez, arrowed a shot into the side netting, extending his run without a goal to 35 games.

Vieira said: “Jordan was like every other player in the dressing room . Everybody was really disappointed not to take those three points. Jordan missing that chance was important. But when you don’t score, especially as a forward, there is a lack of confidence and self-belief in your ability to score.

“It is my responsibility to bring him back to what we know he can do – scoring goals. We just have to find his confidence and he can score goals. There is no doubt about it.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD