Agonising last gasp goal denies Spurs a precious win in their fight for survival

High tension on the High Street : Picture by @YTJourno

Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2 Porro 39, Simons 77

Brighton (1) 2 Mitoma 45+3 Rutter 90+5

Spurs looked all set to re-write the script. They scored what looked like being a stunning winner and were homing in on what would have been only a third home win of the season.

They were also poised to dive out of the bottom three and have their first league win of 2026 - breathing life into their relegation fight rather than continuing the sense of freefalling meekly towards the Championship.

But deep into injury time, sub Georginio Rutter broke their hearts with an equaliser that will crank up the angst even more at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

They were not the better team here, but showed the necessary fight for Roberto de Zerbi in his first home game in charge.

The fans waved their flags in a show of togetherness before kick-off - supplied by the club to every home supporter - and the team responded with a full-on high press from the outset to stifle those ball-playing Seagulls. They settled into a welcome high tempo and hounded their opponents to distraction as de Zerbi would have demanded.

But it was always going to be a nervy affair and it needed a moment of magic from Xavi Simons to get them into a winning position after Brighton had cancelled out an opener from Pedro Porro with a wonder strike of their own.

Alas for the hosts, it was not to be the final word.

It was a strange twist of fate that dictated the former Brighton boss' first home game in charge of the Lilywhites should be against his old club - but it did have the advantage for the new man of knowing exactly what to expect from his old charges.

Goodness knows, spurs needed to find an edge from somewhere, having gone 14 league games without a win since the trip to Palace at the tail end of last year. It has been no home win since early December against Brentford, lest we forget.

They refused to let the Euro-chasing south coast side settle. Yves Bissouma, against his former club, looked like a man on a mission and leaders were what was needed in the absence of Cristian Romero - injured and out for the rest of the season.

Brighton grew into the game and almost led when Micky van de Ven just managed to turn a dangerous cross away from danger via his own post. Danny Welbeck also stooped to head a free-kick into the low diving Anton Kinsky.

But Spurs had another man looking in the mood in Simons. His contest with fellow Dutchman Mats Wieffer was a feature of the first half - with the Brighton player booked for fouling him after one of many tussles near the touchline. Soon after, Simons exacted revenge - lifting a cross for Porro to get on the end of with a header that sailed over keeper Bart Verbruggen.

And Simons came really close to a second when he cut in from the left to drill a low shot against the far upright - the rebound just too far away from Randal Kolo Muani on the follow-up.

They really could have done with that going in because into injury time in a first half they had dominated, Spurs found themselves shipping an unexpected equaliser when Pascal Gross sent in a long cross from the right that sailed over to the far post, bypassing everyone except Kaoru Mitoma - who thrashed a beautiful volley into the roof off the net.

The Japanese was only on the subs bench at the start but came on midway through the first half after Diego Gomez picked up a knock.

The goal did not exactly knock the stuffing out of de Zerbi's side, but a few doubts crept in as Brighton started to look the stronger at the start of the second half. Tackles flew in from both sides but the Seagulls were looking every bit as motivated as the hosts now.

New blood was introduced - including Joao Palhinha, whose deflected drive almost found the net soon after he came on. Verbruggen did well to jut out a leg to deflect the shot away.

Another of those off the bench was Lucas Bergvall and within seconds, he had stolen the ball off a dithering Paul van Hecke and laid off for Simons to cut inside two defenders before unleashing a beauty into the net via the far post.

It was rip the shirt off time for the Dutchman. The general relief around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was palpable. It looked like being the defining moment, even if Ferdi Kadioglu rippled the side netting with a far post volley for Albion. For once, Spurs appeared to be on the right side of the drama.

But deep into injury time there was to be that final twist as van Hecke got the better of Kevin Danso inside the area and pulled the ball back for sub Georgino Rutter to rifle spectacularly into the roof of the net. It was an incredible finish to an astonishing game.

Spurs: (4-3-3) Kinsky - Porro, Danso, van de Ven, Udogie (Spence 76) - Bissouma (Gray 57), Bentancur (Palhinha 67), Gallagher (Bergvall 76) - Kolo Muani (Tel 57), Solanke, Simons

Seagulls: (4-2-3-1) Verbruggen - Wieffer, van Hecke, Boscagli, Kadioglu - Ayari (Kostoulas 83), Gross - Gomez (Mitoma 21) (de Cuyper 75), Hinshelwood (O'Reilly 75), Minteh - Welbeck (Rutter 75)

Attendance: 61,167