A DREADFUL MISTAKE from goalkeeper Aro Muric cost Burnley dear in a 1-1 draw with Brighton that could prove decisive in the relegation battle.
Moments after Josh Brownhill had capitalised on a poor back pass from Carlos Baleba to put the Clarets on course for a victory that would have left them four points from safety, Muric let a routine pass from Sander Berge slip under his foot and dribble into the net, leaving the gap at six.
In a season in which Vincent Kompany’s men have still only won two home league games, it was an awful way to squander two points and the confidence victory would have given Burnley with only five games left to play.
Kompany, serving a touchline ban, had already seen his side waste glorious chances to go ahead, with both Jacob Bruun Larsen and David Fofana guilty of poor misses, although the same could also be said of a Brighton side who had 20 attempts at goal, but needed an own goal to avoid defeat.
Cork teenager Mark O’Mahony, who signed a new long-term contract at the club this week, was introduced by Roberto De Zerbi as an 89th-minute substitute for his Premier League debut.
Elsewhere, Morgan Gibbs-White taunted his former club Wolves but Nottingham Forest could only earn a 2-2 draw which did little to help their survival hopes.
Gibbs-White goaded the away fans after he scored and was then involved in his side’s second goal but Matheus Cunha’s double for Wolves ensured Forest were denied all three points.
They would have seen this as a good opportunity to put some daylight between themselves and Luton, who lost heavily at Manchester City, but the gap is just one point.
And with home games with City and Chelsea remaining, their survival fate could well be decided by away matches at Everton, Sheffield United and Burnley.
Though they are hoping to recoup some of the four points they were docked by the Premier League for breaking financial rules, with an appeal date still to be set.
Wolves, who are playing with a sizeable injury list, look set for a mid-table finish as European qualification now looks out of reach with no wins in the last four.
Luckless teenager Oliver Arblaster scored an own goal as Sheffield United were shoved another step closer to the Championship after a 2-0 defeat at Brentford.
Arblaster, making only his fifth Premier League start, held his head in his hands after inadvertently turning the ball past goalkeeper Ivo Grbic in the second half.
Substitute Frank Onyeka added a second with time ticking down on both the match and the Blades’ stay in the top flight.
Another defeat – their 22nd of the season – leaves Chris Wilder’s men 10 points adrift of safety with only six games remaining.
To rub salt in the wounds of a chastening campaign, Sheffield United found out this week that a two-point deduction awaits them upon their now almost-inevitable drop into the Championship.
