Albion 1 Chelsea 1

The match will long be cherished for the moment Albion equalised.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh is now in there with Gary Williams, Jimmy Case, Bobby Zamora, Steve Sidwell and others as a scorer of a goal which will be talked about by those who saw it for years.

The immediate relevance was another point to keep Albion clear of the drop zone going into a ten-day break from Premier League action.

But Graham Potter will hope what he saw from his side in securing the club’s first point against Chelsea could have significance for the rest of the season.

They passed a test against opponents who, at Stamford Bridge in late September, outplayed them as emphatically as anyone has this season.

Potter’s men did it playing their way, against some adversity – and they might have won.

They also did so with inventive use of a squad which has come into its own over the holiday period.

Albion are still in the early months of a huge change in approach and that, as much as a stunning overhead bicycle kick by Jahanbakhsh, was what Potter spoke about after the points had been shared.

Jahanbakhsh had his back to goal and was about ten yards out when he took off to meet Lewis Dunk’s header and got a sweet connection to wrongfoot the excellent Kepa.

It was a point gained the hard way. Albion had to adapt to being under pressure on the ball.

They had to find a way to threaten a Blues side who looked quite solid when set.

And they had to change shapes and set-ups, partly to nullify an early advantage Chelsea had in wide areas.

They had to cope with the loss of ever-present Dan Burn in the first half and then go again when midfielder Yves Bissouma made way for striker Aaron Connolly at the break in a tactical switch.

If they are honest, they will accept they also had to up their game after a first half in which their passing was below par.

To do all that and to be the side pushing for a win late on spoke volumes for the work being done, bit by bit.

By the end, they were passing the ball from Ryan all the way upfield – and saw Kepa save a point for Chelsea when his foot blocked Neal Maupay’s shot.

Potter said: “I was incredibly pleased and incredibly proud.

“It takes some courage, not only against the top players but also you know, if you are going to make a mistake, the crowd can start to get on you a little bit.

“The players have my utmost respect. Steven Alzate, Davy Propper, Mat Ryan – the personality is amazing.

“Again, maybe the answer is just to kick it but I don’t know whether that is going to create chances.

“We play the way we want to play and I am so pleased for them.”

Don’t get the wrong idea. This was not a classic match.

The term ‘slow burner’ probably covers it, especially from an Albion viewpoint both on and off the field.

Not for the first time at the Amex, Chelsea looked the business early on and took the lead.

Cesar Azpilicueta finished from close range at a corner after the well-meaning Aaron Mooy half-cleared a Tammy Abraham shot which Maty Ryan had covered But Albion worked their way back into the game and might have levelled late in the first half when Leandro Trossard tested Kepa after a counter raid.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said: “It was an incredible equaliser but it is two points dropped.

“In the first half, if we are ruthless, the game is out of sight.

“I’m not saying we had multiple chances but we had control, we had opportunities to play people in who could score.

“Keep switching the ball, keep doing what we were doing in the first 20 minutes – but we came off that slightly, we allowed them to feel like they are still in the game.

“They are a good team and, when they started to play a bit later in the game, they cause you problems.”

As ever, one team’s performance cannot be totally independent of the others.

Albion, having initially looked to populate midfield, then found they needed to play with more width.

BBC Sussex summariser Warren Aspinall felt the loss of left-back Burn, who suffered a broken collarbone when clattered by Reece James’ honest attempt to head the ball, worked out well for the hosts in this match because sub Bernardo is a more natural wide player.

At the same time, Lampard thought it was a case of his side not pressing home their advantage.

He said: “We had a situation in the first half where we knew the problem for them. We could find our full-backs easily, keep control of the ball easily.

“Then we decided not to keep doing that.

“Then all of a sudden you are giving the ball away, when you get opportunities to score you’re not taking them and, if you do that at this level, you’re not going to win games you should.”

Chelsea are not the force they have been in previous trips to the Amex.

But, with a potential threat up front and Antonio Rudiger a rock at the back, it was easy for seasoned Albion watchers to see the game drifting towards an away win in the second half.

This new-look Seagulls side did not see that picture.

They got great value from their subs, all of whom affected the contest in some way.

Connolly might have levelled after some good footwork but his final shot was not quite out of the reach of the stretching Kepa, who made a fine save.

It was Jahanbakhsh who played supersub, having had a case for starting after his goal against Bournemouth.

Potter said: “He has had a good week, that’s for sure.

“There were thoughts of starting him again but he hasn’t played for a while to go again so quickly “Use his energy and confidence in that moment as a sub. Obviously I didn’t predict that quality of strike but it was a fantastic goal.”