Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Dale Stephens insists that the side will be approaching Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace with confidence, with each game now vital.
With six games left to go Albion occupy 13th position and have 35 points – and after the weekend’s 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town, Stephens stressed that each contest is as important as the other with Premier League safety the objective.
He said, “It’s been ‘must win’ for the last three games - we've gone into each game with that mentality but I think every team in the Premier League is doing that.
“We've had a couple of games against them [Crystal Palace] this season and everyone is confident going into next week.
"I think the overall feeling is of disappointment after Saturday. We had a few clear-cut chances to be go 3-1 ahead, but in the last few minutes we defended well, so it was probably a fair result in the end.”
Davy Propper had a big chance to hand the home side the lead within the opening minute of the game, and Albion also had several other opportunities as they began the contest brightly.
"It's something we are conscious of, as it's important we do make a good start to games - we did it today and unfortunately we haven't gone in front in the first ten minutes.
“I feel we started well enough, the mistake we've made collectively probably knocked the stuffing out of us for the first time. I thought we started well and continued to play, but we have to take the point and move onto next week.
"Everyone makes mistakes but unfortunately today we've been punished by one of them.
“We played well enough in the first half, we couldn't carry it on in the second half but we went down to ten men. We kept them out and probably should have nicked it towards the end with Jose's [Izquierdo] chance.”
Stephens had missed the side’s last two matches through injury and returned to the side for the game, and he shed some light on why he’d been side-lined in recent weeks.
“I have trained over the last couple of days and trained hard for the last two weeks.
“It took a little longer [to come back] than I wanted it too. It was a nerve in my hamstring, I've worked hard for the last two weeks and hopefully, I can continue playing from now until the end of the campaign.”