Late Pedro penalty earns Brighton 2-1 win over Fulham
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Late Pedro penalty earns Brighton 2-1 win over Fulham
BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) - A Joao Pedro penalty in added time helped Brighton & Hove Albion to snatch a 2-1 home Premier League win over Fulham on Saturday and boost their bid to qualify for European football.
Brighton's fourth straight league win moved them up two places in the standings to sixth with 46 points from 28 games, one point behind fourth-placed Manchester City, who were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest earlier on Saturday. Fulham remain in ninth.
"I work for that. I try to stay calm. I was happy to score the winning goal, three points and I'm very happy. They had their chance to win," match-winner Pedro told the BBC.
"I think both teams tried to play their games. We didn't create that much as well. It was a tough game. I think every team dreams to be in the European tournament. Now we just think about Manchester City next week."
In a match between two sides who have been enjoying promising campaigns and are aiming to disrupt the Premier League's status quo, it was Fulham who drew first blood.
After a cautious opening half-hour, Alex Iwobi brought the game to life when he embarked on a lung-busting run down the right flank and sent in a pinpoint cross that Raul Jimenez chested down and fired past Bart Verbruggen in the 35th minute.
"When I won the ball, I saw a lot of green grass and decided to keep on running. I saw Raul and I know he likes to pull to the back post. It was a difficult ball to control and finish," Iwobi told Sky Sports.
"Unfortunately, today was not the result we wanted. We want to keep treating each game like a final."
Five minutes later the south-coast club equalised through Jan Paul van Hecke, who was left completely unmarked at the far post and headed home a Yasin Ayari free kick for his first Brighton goal.
Brighton upped the pressure at the beginning of the second half and Kaoru Mitoma had a goal disallowed in the 55th minute for offside, before the hosts' manager Fabian Hurzeler sent on Danny Welbeck and Solly March to try to shake things up.
The changes spurred Brighton into action and they created a flurry of chances in the last 15 minutes.
Welbeck headed wide from a promising position and VAR twice intervened to deny Brighton, with a penalty claim for a foul on Pervis Estupinan waived away and a strike by Simon Adingra ruled out for offside.
Just as it looked like the spoils would be shared, Pedro was bowled over by a clumsy tackle from Harrison Reed in the fifth minute of stoppage time and the Brazil international stepped up to calmly slot home the winner.
The victory was Brighton's first over Fulham in the Premier League and brought an end to a nine-game winless run against the London side which stretched back to 2017.
