Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler refused to take the credit for his match-winning substitution after Danny Welbeck made an instant impact to earn a “lucky” 2-1 Premier League victory over fellow European hopefuls Bournemouth.
With both sides dreaming of qualifying for continental football next season, the momentum was against Albion when Justin Kluivert’s spectacular equaliser cancelled out Joao Pedro’s early penalty.
But just three minutes after replacing Pedro, substitute Welbeck coolly rolled home a decisive 75th-minute finish to move the Seagulls to eighth position, level on 43 points with Bournemouth, who dropped to seventh.
“He’s a cool man,” Hurzeler said of Welbeck’s composure.
“The public and media always judge strikers by scoring. For sure it’s important we have strikers who can score but we know the quality from Danny Welbeck.
“Credit to the player because I didn’t score. If you have Danny Welbeck, you think every second when to bring him on, so it’s not a credit to me.”
Brighton’s victory was a third in a row in the top flight following emphatic successes against Chelsea and rock-bottom Southampton.
“We deserved to lead and then in the second half, we suffered,” said Hurzeler.
“I think the (equalising) goal came a little bit out of nowhere, it was an amazing goal and afterwards we had to stick together.
“The momentum changed a little bit. Bournemouth had the feeling that they are a little bit on top of us.
“It was a difficult situation for us but we managed it quite good and then in the end we were a lucky winner.”
Pedro converted from the spot in the 12th minute after going to ground under a challenge from Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga following a through ball from full Premier League debutant Diego Gomez.
Cherries manager Andoni Iraola felt Pedro tried to “buy the penalty” and thought his side were unfortunate to lose on the back of an improved second-half display in an entertaining south-coast showdown.
“It’s difficult (to accept the result) because we played well,” said Iraola. “We played as good, if not better than Brighton.
“Probably when we analyse the game, we will have more corners, more shots, more crosses, more time in their half but when you lose, you have to make these things count.
“They’ve been better in the two boxes; this is what counts in football. It’s been a good game of football from good teams but when you lose, this is the least important thing.
“For the penalty, I think the forward is very smart. He forgets about going to score a goal and he tries to buy the penalty.
“Normally when you do this, they call the penalty so I’m not complaining. But he buys the penalty.”
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