LONDON – Reggae Boyz target Demarai Gray converted a late penalty, but Brighton & Hove Albion piled more pressure on Everton manager Frank Lampard with an emphatic 4-1 English Premier League victory at Goodison Park on Tuesday night.
Gray’s strike two minutes into added time was the 26-year-old winger’s fifth goal of the campaign for the Toffees, but it came on a miserable night for the hosts, who are one point above the drop zone in 16th place.
The final whistle, when chants of “sack the board” were heard, was greeted by more boos from the home fans, who have seen their team win only one of their past 10 top-flight games.
Everton could drop into the bottom three on Wednesday if other results go against them, while Brighton move back up to eighth.
Lampard had called on his Everton players to show the same work ethic and desire that earned them an impressive point at Manchester City on Christmas Eve, but they were second best in the first half before folding feebly in the second.
Kaoru Mitoma gave the Seagulls the lead with a composed finish after Moises Caicedo picked out the Japan winger on the edge of the penalty area on 14 minutes.
The Toffees, who were booed off at half-time, were undone after the break as Brighton scored three goals in a six-minute spell through teenage striker Evan Fergsuon (51 minutes), .Solly March (54) and Passcal Gross (57).
Winning manager Roberto de Zerbi said: “The [Brighton] players were fantastic in the second half.”
In 2021, Jamaica Football Federation president Michael Ricketts included Gray in a list of English players with Jamaican heritage he suggested “were in the process of acquiring their Jamaican passport” as part of the country’s ultimately unsuccessful plan to qualify for last year’s World Cup. (CMC)
