Sunderland AFC thought that they had taken the lead 48 minutes into their Premier League encounter with Brighton and Hove Albion.
16:29, 14 Mar 2026Updated 19:38, 14 Mar 2026
Chris Rigg was denied his first Premier League goal on Saturday(Image: Getty Images)
Chris Rig was denied his first-ever Premier League goal on Saturday afternoon, after Omar Alderete was deemed to have been in an offside position in the build-up.
The 18-year-old academy product thought he had given Sunderland a 1-0 lead against Brighton and Hove Albion three minutes after the half-time interval at the Stadium of Light – with a tidy finish to beat Bart Verbruggen.
However, centre-half Alderete – who had a major part in the build-up to the finish – was deemed to be offside in the process. The move started when Granit Xhaka played a short free-kick toward Trai Hume from the centre of the pitch, with the Northern Irishman finding Alderete with a lofted diagonal ball.
Alderete then headed into the Brighton box, with the ball bundling all the way through the Seagull’s defence and to Rigg at the back post, before he poked home.
However, the youngster’s joy was shot live with the goal ruled out for offside. The Premier League Match Centre took to X to explain the decision.
They wrote: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Alderete was in an offside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
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It was a defining moment in the game with Brighton taking the lead in the 58th minute, when Yankuba Minteh opened the scoring, despite appeals from Habib Diarra – who was down on the floor. It was a goal which ultimately proved decisive, as Brighton ran out 1-0 winners at the Stadium of Light.
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Having already entered the fray without Enzo Le Fee or Nilson Angulo on his teamsheet, Regis Le Bris was handed further injury worries for next weekend’s Tyne-Wear Derby when Dan Ballard went to ground 65 minutes into the match.
He was subsequently substituted off, with Luke O’Nien taking his place at centre-half – although the extent of the injury is unclear at this stage.
Yankuba Minteh took the lead for Brighton(Image: Getty Images)
Sunderland are already without Bertrand Traore, Jocelin Ta Bi, Reinildo Mandava, Nordi Mukiele, Romaine Mundle and Robin Roefs at present, and further injury could prove problematic in an already thin squad.
The Black Cats head to St James’ Park come Sunday, March 22 having won December’s reverse fixture at the Stadium of Light 1-0.
On that occasion, it was an own-goal from Nick Woltemade that made the difference.
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