Mike Dean reacts to Everton v Brighton controversy live on Sky Sports

Former referee Mike Dean insisted it was a "shame" Brighton and Hove Albion had a goal ruled out in the first half of their Premier League meeting with Everton.

Lewis Dunk thought he had cancelled out Vitaliy Mykolenko's early opener for Everton in Saturday's (4 November) contest at Goodison Park, only for VAR to intervene.

After a lengthy check, the officials ruled the goal out for an offside infringement in the lead-up to Dunk converting Pascal Gross' delivery, much to the relief of Everton supporters.

Reviewing the incident live on Sky Sports [4 November, 15:16], Dean said: "At first glance he looks offside.

"It'd be a shame because it's a great finish. It's a tight one - very, very close."

Poor marking

Everton's defenders would have been more relieved than anyone inside Goodison Park with this decision as they left Dunk all alone to convert.

Think back to the goals scored by Luton Town in September when Tom Lockyer and Carlton Morris were both left unmarked - it was a carbon copy.

It was an extremely tight call and really could have gone either way, but it does appear that the officials got this one correct.

That was a massive let-off for Everton after making a positive start to the game through a rare Mykolenko goal inside the first seven minutes.

Sean Dyche has made the Toffees a lot sturdier at the back in recent weeks, making the defending for Dunk's disallowed goal all the stranger.

Many decisions such as this one have gone against Everton - and let's not forget the controversy against Liverpool recently - so we will take this one.

In other Everton news, a big-money star was nowhere to be seen in the Toffees' starting line-up.