Brighton & Hove Albion winger Solly March praised the resilience and determination shown by the side after claiming a memorable 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Albion were reduced to ten men following Shane Duffy’s sending off with the score at 1-0, but increased their lead through Leon Balogun and Florin Andone in an incredible first half of football.
He said, “It means a lot; look at the reaction of the players and the fans at the end. We showed great character after going down to 10 men early on and it was a great effort by all the boys. We were shattered coming off the pitch and it was great to give that to the fans.
“It shows the character we’ve got as a team with the effort we put in and the running we did, so it’s a credit to everyone.
“The fans got behind us, were our extra man and we fought all the way for them. It was a great win and we’ve got six points from two games.”
March spoke about all three goals in general and highlighted the quality shown from Glenn Murray, Florin Andone and Leon Balogun.
“I thought [his penalty] was rising over but it just clipped the underside of the bar; it was a great penalty. Then I think he’s hurt his shoulder, he's come off and Florin’s come on and done a wonderful job with the third goal.
“I didn’t think he was going to get on the end of it but the pace he showed was unbelievable and it shows the work he puts in in training.
“The second goal from Balogun is unbelievable. It was a poor corner by me flicked on by Davy [Propper], and it was a brilliant finish from a centre-back.”
The win over Palace leaves Albion with 21 points from 15 games, and the Seagulls winger now hopes the victory can give the team momentum heading into the rest of the festive period.
“We can’t ask for any more really. If you’d offered us 21 points from 15 games at the start of the season, we would’ve bitten your hand off.
“We are delighted with that and hopefully we can push on further."