Brighton 0 Burnley 0: Glenn Murray misses a penalty

GLENN MURRAY'S first-half penalty miss proved the difference in the goalless draw at the Amex as neither Brighton or Burnley could find a clinical edge in front of goal.

Murray blazed well over after a contentious decision saw him go down in the box after a tangling of the legs with James Tarkowski.

And  Brighton, who had lost three on the bounce coming into the game, had plenty of other opportunities to put the game to bed.

Top six chasing Burnley rode their luck at times in the first-half but grew into the game and had chances of their own to nick the win.

Scott Arfield was denied by a great double save from Matthew Ryan while Chris Wood should have done better from a good position.

The goalless draw leaves Brighton only three points above the relegation zone while Burnley, who have only conceded 12 goals from their 18 games, move up to fifth. In the first-half Brighton certainly didn’t look like a team who had only scored one goal in their last five games.

Chris Hughton’s side dominated proceedings while Burnley were living off scraps and struggled to get much rhythm into their game.

And Brighton had plenty of decent chances to open the scoring, hitting the post after 22 minutes.

After some tidy build-up play down the right, Gross crossed in and Knockeart’s first time effort had Pope beaten, but it crashed off the left-hand post.

And with 10 minutes of the opening half to go, the home side were awarded a  penalty. Murray latched onto a ball played over the top but with him seeming to be going nowhere, Tarkowski got tight to him in the box, and after a tangling of legs Murray went down.

Murray stepped up to take the penalty but blazed well over after trying to smash it straight down the middle.

And Brighton started the second-half in the same vein with Knockaert going close, with a cross-shot which Murray failed to bundle over the line.

But Burnley grew into the game and were only denied from going ahead after a superb double save from Ryan from Scott Arfield’s close-range shots.

Chris Wood then should have scored after 73 minutes but he could only hit it straight into Ryan when trying to dink it over him.

From The Sun