Fulham hold Brighton to scoreless draw with VAR help

Updated: May 17, 2023, 12:11 am
Bobby Cordova Reid of Fulham FC and Leandro Trossard of Brighton and Hove Albion chase the ball
Bobby Cordova Reid of Fulham FC and Leandro Trossard of Brighton and Hove Albion chase the ball
Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images

Fulham grabbed a gritty 0-0 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday that lifted them out of the Premier League's bottom three but they needed help from the video assistant referee (VAR) who disallowed a second-half goal for the visitors.

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After a dull first half, Brighton launched an early second-half onslaught and Adam Lallana thought he had scored his first goal for the club within minutes of the restart, but it was chalked off after a VAR review for a seemingly innocuous handball by Danny Welbeck.

Brighton won a number of corners as they switched between longer balls in behind the defence and quick-short passing moves down the wings, with the home side seemingly unable to hold on to possession.

Lewis Dunk squeezed a header just wide and fellow defender Adam Webster sent another header against the underside of the crossbar before the Fulham defence finally started snuffing out their attacks.

Though the home side struggled to create many decent chances, Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez pulled off some fine saves to keep his goal intact, but the visitors could not convert their dominance into goals and the game ended scoreless.

The clean sheet was Fulham's first since they beat West Bromwich Albion on Nov. 2.

"In large parts this season we have not given ourselves a platform and have been chasing games down. A clean sheet is massive for us," Fulham manager Scott Parker told the BBC.

Fulham edged out of the relegation zone and up to 17th spot in the table on nine points after 13 games, ahead of Burnley, who have two matches in hand, on goal difference. Brighton are 16th on 11 points.