Brighton win at Sunderland watched from 38,000 feet over the Black Sea | OneFootball

I watched Brighton’s 1-0 win at Sunderland from 38,000 feet over the Black Sea while flying to Tokyo.

According to WeAreBrighton.com, a strong away following made the long trip and were rewarded. Brighton started the sharper, Jack Hinshelwood going close inside nine minutes, Pascal Gross shaving a post and Chemsdine Talbi drawing a save from Bart Verbruggen.

It was goalless at half-time. Three minutes after the restart Sunderland briefly led before VAR ruled it out. Yankuba Minteh then bent the ball with the outside of his right foot between Jan Paul van Hecke and the Sunderland goalkeeper, his first since September.

The game turned frantic, but Brighton regained control and saw it out. That made it three wins from four.

WiFi linked an earbud to BBC Radio Sussex while the screen showed a sunlit Stadium of Light, banana pancakes arriving as kick-off came.

My journey ran from Crawley Down at 2.20am to a Tokyo hotel 26 hours later, with 16 hours via Gatwick and Istanbul. Istanbul Airport stung the wallet, a basic fast-food order costing about £47. With war in the Middle East narrowing airways, we cruised among streams of traffic, jets above, below and alongside.

I marked the win with black tea, a roll and fruit as dawn broke and Mount Fuji rose above the clouds. Brighton moved up to 10th, five points off seventh with eight games left, and I am dreaming of Europe again.

Source: WeAreBrighton.com