Brighton (England), Jan 20: Teenage substitute Charalampos Kostoulas scored with an audacious overhead kick in a stoppage-time to give Brighton a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth.
The 18-year-old Greece international received a knock-down from Jan Paul van Hecke, chested the ball up in the air and then executed a perfect bicycle kick from about 10 yards out.
“I’ve seen him score better in training, but that was unbelievable,” Brighton captain Lewis Dunk said of the late strike. “He’s a special talent. You’ve seen glimpses, and there’ll be many more things to come from him. He’s adapting to the country, new league, and he’s shown what he can do. That shows exactly what he can do.”
The result extends Brighton’s unbeaten run to five games and leaves it in 12th place in the Premier League, three points and three places above its south coast rivals.
Fabian Hürzeler’s team started well but faded after an encouraging first few minutes and Bournemouth took the lead with a disputed penalty in the 32nd minute.
Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was adjudged to have fouled Amine Adli in the box and after a video review Marcus Tavernier confidently dispatched the penalty.
Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola lamented giving up the late goal and decried what he said was a run in which it seemed like “everything is going against us.”
But he was sanguine about the quality of Kostoulas’s decisive strike.
“It is an incredible goal, it is an overhead kick into the top corner, and we finish with a point,” he said. “It is a shame because the players have done an incredible effort. We are going point by point and we have to keep going.” (AP)
