Hughton Reflects On Fair Result

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton believes his players fully deserved a share of the spoils as they battled hard for a 1-1 draw against Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium this evening.

Glenn Murray’s first-half penalty was cancelled out by Jack Stephens in the second period, and although Hughton was frustrated with the goal conceded, he felt his team performed well enough to take a point.

He said, “I think we were well worthy of the point that we’ve got. When you come here, with the way that they play and the players that they’ve got, you’d expect them to have good possession and threaten.

“But I think we restricted them to one half-chance or so. We had a lot of the ball and threatened ourselves, and we were resilient in what we did.

“Probably on the balance of play, especially with us being the away team, I thought a draw was a fair result.

“We had very good opportunities once we got into that final third. So overall, I’m reasonably happy.

Hughton admitted his frustration towards the nature of Southampton’s equalising goal, as Stephens got the faintest of touches on a free-kick to send the ball into the bottom corner.

“It was frustrating to give away the free-kick. They’ve got great quality from free-kicks, particularly in the wide areas - and that ball shouldn't have got to the place where it did.

“The lad did very well on the goal, but it shouldn't have got that far. At that stage, even though they were threatening, we were still reasonably comfortable.

“We were defending well, broke fast and kept possession well - so that makes it even more frustrating.”

The Seagulls sit 15th in the Premier League after this evening’s result, one point above the relegation zone, and Hughton challenged his players to show their character in the final period of the season.

“This is the time for players to step up, and it’s becoming quite obvious that going into this last third of the season, it’s going to be the team that stands out from the rest.

“Whether that’s resilience and scoring the odd goal, or being able to turn defence into attack and go on to win games.

“Whichever way it is, there’s got to be those teams that show a little bit more than the others.”