Chelsea beaten in friendly at Brighton

Brighton 3 Chelsea 1

Brighton delighted their fans by coming from behind to beat the European champions in front of a crowd of over 17,000 at the Amex Stadium.

Chelsea looked in control after Frank Lampard’s opener, but goals from Vicente, Ashley Barnes and Andrew Crofts gave the Championship outfit an impressive victory.

Lampard netted on 34 minutes when Ramires galloped into the Brighton half and picked out Fernando Torres, whose clever dummy meant the ball ran perfectly for the England midfielder.

It totally wrongfooted the Albion defence and keeper Thomasz Kuszczak, who was sent the wrong way by Lampard’s shot.

But Gus Poyet’s side hit back quickly and were level within three minutes.

Former Chelsea favourite Poyet would himself have been proud of the assist from Barnes, whose run and low cross set up Vicente for a cool side-foot into the bottom corner.

And Barnes went one better a couple of minutes before the break when he put the Seagulls ahead.

Will Buckley pounced on an error by Raul Meireles and lifted the ball over Ashley Cole, and after Petr Cech saved at the winger’s feet Barnes was on hand to slot into an unguarded net.

In the second half, Cech produced a fingertip save to deny Vicente before being replaced by Ross Turnbull, who did well to keep out Barnes’ near-post header.

David Luiz, Ramires, Lampard and Eden Hazard were all unlucky not to score as Chelsea tried to find an equaliser.

And with four minutes remaining, Crofts nipped in to score, with the referee waving away protests that Luiz had been fouled in the build-up.

On a brighter note for the Blues, Torres played 78 minutes and looked sharp, while John Terry featured for an hour before being replaced by Luiz.

Cole, Lampard, Hazard, Ramires, Michael Essien, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic all played the full 90.

See also: Di Matteo unhappy with performance

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