Wolves assistant manager Luis Miguel has apologised on behalf of Vitor Pereira after his red card on Sunday, saying: ‘We lost our minds!’
There was hope at Molineux that the home side were on course for their first win of the Premier League season as they led Brighton thanks to a Bart Verbruggen own goal after 21 minutes.
They held onto that lead until the 86th minute when Jan Paul van Hecke powered in a header to equalise, with the game finishing 1-1.
That result leaves Wolves rock bottom of the top flight, with just two points from seven matches and there will be another headache for their manager after Pereira was shown a red card.
The 57-year-old was sent off after just 20 minutes and it was not immediately obvious why, but it was later confirmed that it was due to his reaction to the referee not giving Wolves a free-kick.
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Pereira kicked a spare ball on the sidelines into the fourth official’s seating area and was dismissed for ‘irresponsible behaviour’ as a result.
Miguel spoke out on behalf of the manager, telling Sky Sports: ‘First of all I want to speak about what happened with Vitor.
‘I want to apologise because what Vitor did was a frustration thing with what was happening with our team, not the other team or referee.
‘The ball was there, he kicked the ball, sometimes you kick a bottle of water or something.
‘We lost our minds. I’m sorry, and Vitor will apologise in his next press conference.’
The Wolves assistant boss added: ‘About the game – it’s frustrating, last week against Spurs was the same. Last six minutes conceding a goal, but we keep on. In the end we will see if it is one point gained or two lost.
‘Brighton have a very good team, good position in the Premier League, so we know it’s difficult to play against them. We had to defend, but had an opportunity to score a second and finish the game but we didn’t do it.
‘What I promise to our supporters that we will continue to work very hard, the players gave everything to try and win the game. Confidence will come with winning, we know we need three points as soon as possible.’
Brighton have had a much better start to the season than Wolves but are struggling to build much momentum after beating Chelsea last time out.
Fabian Hurzeler’s side have won just two of their seven league games so far, but he felt they could easily have picked up three points on Sunday.
‘We deserved more but it’s football, we have to accept it and do better next time.’ he told the BBC. ‘I saw a team that had the belief and quality, the belief we can always score goals. The longer the game went on the harder it becomes to score.
‘We always created dangers in their box, we didn’t have plenty of chances but were always there. Overall there are lots of positives to take.
‘We were very good in the first half, dominated, good in possession and out of possession. After conceding we lost our rhythm and structure. We wanted to react quickly but it got a bit wild. Second half we were dominant and created danger.’