Brighton & Hove Albion defender Lewis Dunk hailed the significance of Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Huddersfield Town, and highlighted the importance of making their one-man advantage count.
Steve Mounie was sent off in the first half following a challenge on Yves Bissouma, and Dunk felt lessons were learned from the previous week’s display against Leicester City, who were also reduced to ten men.
He said, “It’s a massive win and pushes us higher up the table. It was always going to be tough, but we showed the right mentality and reacted well after conceding an early goal.
“They got a man sent off, which made it easier for us, but it showed last week that it’s not always easy playing ten men. It was completely different to last week as we made sure we punished them, kept the ball and made them run.
“We had to win after going down to ten men last week, and we couldn’t let this game slip. We had to get this job done and thankfully the lads popped up with the goals.
“It’s still frustrating that we still didn’t kill the game off and it showed in the last five minutes that it’s never over. We need to make sure we kill games off in the future.”
The Seagulls defender praised Florin Andone for scoring his first goal on his first Premier League start, and believes the Romanian added something different to the Albion frontline.
“I thought he was excellent; he gave us a really good dimension and a threat in behind, which we needed, especially when they were down to ten men.
“We needed to stretch them and make the pitch as big as possible. He did a great job, never stopped running and the goal is credit to him, as it was a great run across the front post and a good header. I’m really buzzing for him.”
Saturday’s match starts a run of three games in eight days, and Dunk says the focus is now on Tuesday’s game against Crystal Palace at the Amex.
“We needed three points at the start of this busy week, but this is no different for those of us that have played in the Championship and the lower leagues for a long time.
“Our bodies are ready for it, and we make sure we recover and look ahead to Tuesday.
“We’ve got to make sure we win at our home ground. It’s another game in the Premier League and we need to get some points on the board and get closer to safety. Hopefully the fans will create a good atmosphere and we get the right result.”