- Albion draw with Charlton Athletic at The Valley
- Pascal Gross on target for Albion
- Naby Sarr replies late on for the hosts
- The Seagulls next face Birmingham City at St Andrew's on Saturday
Brighton & Hove Albion secured their second 1-1 draw of the day, this time against Charlton Athletic, despite having the better of proceedings in a pre-season friendly at The Valley.
A separate Albion XI had drawn with Portsmouth by the same scoreline earlier in the day, as Chris Hughton made full use of his squad with two matches against League One opposition.
Leon Balogun was handed his debut in defence against the Addicks, while fellow summer signings David Button and Bernardo also gained more valuable game time.
Albion created their first opening inside three minutes through Gross, whose free-kick was cleared behind for a corner.
Dale Stephens then threaded a defence-splitting pass towards Richie Towell, but the Irishman's low strike went straight at Dillon Phillips.
The hosts made inroads for the first time when Simon Dawkins was allowed to cut inside from the left flank, only to see his shot deflect wide.
Lewis Dunk was the orchestrator of Albion’s next opportunity, as he drove into the Charlton area and picked out Gross, whose brilliant flick was met by Glenn Murray, but he fired wide.
Chances were few and far between for the Addicks, but Albie Morgan could have broken the deadlock in emphatic fashion, only to see his shot from distance fly over the crossbar.
The Seagulls continued to dominate possession, as both Stephens and Solly March saw their long-range attempts blocked, before Towell’s snap-shot rose over the bar.
It proved to be the Irishman’s final action of the game after he went down with a knock and was replaced by James Tilley.
Hughton’s men continued to look the most likely of the two sides to break the deadlock, as Dunk rose highest in the box to head just wide from a Gross corner.
Gross gave Albion the lead three minutes after the re-start when Murray met Tilley’s brilliant cross with a bullet header - it was then saved by Phillips before the German fired home the loose ball.
The Seagulls were left to thank Button for preserving their lead just moments later, after the shot-stopper made a brilliant triple save to deny Josh Magennis following a misplaced back-pass.
Albion were then forced into another change with Tilley picking up a knock, and he was replaced by Viktor Gyokeres just shy of the hour mark.
March was next to engineer an opportunity when he raced to the byline, but was thwarted by Phillips at the near post.
Substitute Aaron Connolly had a carbon copy of March’s chance just a minute later, but the forward was also denied by Phillips.
With just ten minutes remaining on the clock, the hosts drew level through Naby Sarr as the Charlton man found space inside the penalty area and fired into the bottom corner.
Connolly had a late opporunity to win the game for the Seagulls, but the striker's close-range header was straight at Phillips, which meant Albion had to settle for another draw.
ALBION: Button (Keto 79); Bruno (Moore 79), Dunk (Kerr 79), Balogun (Barclay 64), Bernardo (Cochrane 79); Towell (Tilley 36 (Gyokeres 59)), Stephens (Normann 79), Propper (Collar 79), March (Maguire-Drew 79); Gross (Mandroiu 79); Murray (Connolly 64).
Attendance: 2,256
Away: 458