LONDON (AP) — Ruben Neves’ second-half equalizer rescued a 1-1 draw for Wolverhampton at Brentford in an English Premier League game that saw striker Diego Costa sent off for a headbutt on Saturday.
Neves leveled just two minutes after defender Ben Mee gave Brentford the lead in the 50th minute, but Costa once again found a way to steal the headlines with a rash outburst in the final moments.
The former Chelsea striker, who joined Wolves in September as a free agent signing, jostled with Mee in stoppage time before headbutting his opponent and was shown a straight red card by referee Bobby Madley.
Madley, officiating in the league for the first time since he was sacked more than four years ago for apparently mocking a disabled person, checked his pitchside monitor before sending Costa off.
It was an explosive end to a match which failed to ignite until the second half.
Ivan Toney missed three decent chances in the opening period while Josh Dasilva also curled a shot narrowly wide for Brentford.
Wolves’ Joao Moutinho volleyed just off target from a corner while Costa got on the end of a cross but his header flew over.
With the forwards all misfiring it was Mee who opened the scoring from a short corner, when he acrobatically turned in a cross from Bryan Mbeumo.
It was a spectacular goal, but it was canceled out just 110 seconds later.
Nelson Semedo collected the ball from Adama Traore and squared to Neves, who crashed a superb first-time effort past David Raya from the edge of the box.
Costa had the best chances to win it for the visitors when he twice wriggled his way into shooting positions but Raya made two fine saves.
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