Club news

Hughton Satisfied With Pre-season Opener

By Alex Stedman • 14 July 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton was satisfied with his side’s 1-1 draw against FC St Gallen at Kybunpark on Saturday afternoon.

A second-half header from Tomer Hemed cancelled out an opener from the hosts in the first half in Switzerland, and the Albion boss was happy with how the contest panned out. 

He said, “I was pleased with the result given the respective stages of pre-season that both sides are in, and that was probably reflected in the game.

“The intensity of their game showed at the start, but I thought we grew into the contest and ultimately in the end we had the better chances to go and win it.

“But it was a good run-out for us given the fact that they start their season next week and at this moment we’ve come through it well.”

The Seagulls manager made nine changes at half-time against their Swiss Super League opponents, and he discussed what he was looking for from the game. 

“We’ve got a few faces missing because of various factors but that’s nothing new to us and is to be expected.

“This is our first game and the first time the players have played 45 minutes – generally it won’t click straight away and it’s more about getting through the period of the game and trying to get a rhythm. 

“You want to perhaps see some of the things we’ve been working on in training, but the main thing is getting through unscathed and looking forward to the next game.” 

The match brought the side’s pre-season training camp in Austria to a close, and the manager reflected positively on the time that the team had spent away.

“It’s been a very good week and the weather has been very hot – as it has been pretty much everywhere else. 

“The facilities were excellent, and we were really well looked after. You want to try and do as much as you can and in each of the four days we’ve managed three sessions per day – although the players had some down-time on Wednesday. 

“It’s our normal pre-season camp and you always judge it as having gone well once you get through the work.” 

Fans can watch Chris Hughton’s full interview on Seagulls TV above, and supporters can sign up to the service by clicking here.