Brighton recorded their first home win since 2 November with a convincing victory over a lacklustre Bournemouth at the Amex Stadium. They had suffered their biggest home defeat in the Premier League in this fixture last season but got off to a dream start this time, when Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored his first goal for the club.

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The game was not without controversy, with VAR overruling a second-half goal from Dan Burn after the left-back was judged to be offside. Brighton did not have to wait too long for their second goal, however, as Aaron Mooy, who impressed throughout in the centre of midfield, took a touch on his chest before making sure of all three points for the home side. The result moves the Seagulls three points above Bournemouth, who have just two wins from their last 14 top-flight matches.

Graham Potter, the Brighton manager, said: “I’m proud of the players, both in terms of the performance – they put a lot of work into the game – and a good understanding of what we’re trying to do. Obviously the result we’re very happy with, because we know it is about getting the points as well. So, an important three points and good for everybody I think, good for the supporters to get a clean sheet and maybe we could have got another goal but in the end it’s three points that we’re delighted with.”

Less than three minutes after the game kicked off, Jahanbakhsh weaved through the Bournemouth defence and struck the ball past Aaron Ramsdale to give his side an early lead, before falling to the ground in tears as he became the third Iranian to find the net in the Premier League.

Bournemouth almost struck back immediately, with Mathew Ryan forced into a diving save to prevent Joshua King from finding the far corner after he was cleverly played in by Diego Rico.

Both sides enjoyed periods of possession after the opener, with Mooy running the midfield for Brighton, but clear-cut opportunities proved hard to come by.

The home side appeared to have doubled their lead at the start of the second half after the Bournemouth defence were unable to clear the ball. It fell to the towering Burn, who took a touch before turning and slotting past Ramsdale. Paul Tierney awarded the goal, only for VAR to undertake a lengthy review for offside, and the left-back was eventually denied his first for the club.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dan Burn shows his disappointment as his goal is ruled out. Photograph: Simon Dack/TPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Potter said: “I can’t complain about VAR generally in terms of what’s happened to us, but I know that those things do affect the game because the reality of it is you almost can’t celebrate goals any more because you have to get everything checked and then you can have another celebration. But as soon as you bring it in that was always going to happen, so I don’t know why anyone was surprised by this.”

Brighton came close to striking again a few moments later, as Yves Bissouma drove into the box. His low drive beat the goalkeeper but rebounded back off the post.

VAR intervened for a second time at the 75-minute mark for a possible handball by Jack Stacey, with the referee’s original decision upheld and no spot-kick awarded. However, Mooy doubled his side’s lead in the 79th minute. The 29-year-old, on loan from Huddersfield, controlled the ball from Leandro Trossard on his chest, before taking it away from the defender and steering home.

Bournemouth had made all of their substitutions and had to finish the game with 10 men after Stacey was forced from the field through injury.

Eddie Howe said: “At half-time we were obviously disappointed to be behind, to have conceded the way we did, but we were reasonably optimistic about the second half after quite an entertaining 30 minutes for us.

“But in the second half I thought we fell away from that level and we struggled to build any momentum, to have any controlled possession. We were disjointed and it was a difficult 45 minutes.”