Striker Sam Baldock has said he’s hoping to kick on at Brighton now having finally made his Premier League debut in the defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
Heading to The Hawthorns for last weekend’s tie, Brighton lost out two nil on the day but Baldock got his first Premier League minutes as he came on as a replacement for Christian Gross in the 66th minute.
Having tasted top flight action now, he’s hoping for plenty more minutes in the second half of the campaign and he told the Official Site as he sat down with the media this week, he explained.
‘It was a very proud moment because it`s something that you aspire to as a child, you always want to be a Premier League player. It`s been a long time coming for me and it`s been frustrating because I`ve been part of a Premier League squad without playing – so to be able to do that at the weekend was good for me. It`s not a day that I`ll look back on too fondly because the result wasn`t a positive one though.’
Baldock did feel that there were positives the side could take from the defeat though, as apart from their goals, there was little else in the game and if we’d been more clinical we could’ve walked out with a point, if not more.
‘The goals came at bad times for us – it`s a never a good time to concede but when you let goals in at the start of the half, it can throw all the plans you make out of the window somewhat. But we can take positives from it – they didn`t break us down from open play and I thought we created some good opportunities throughout the game and especially towards the end. We didn`t give up, but overall it was a frustrating day.’
Reflecting on our first season so far in the top flight, he went on to say.
‘I think we started really well – it`s always hard against this quality of opposition because you can`t even take your foot off the gas, otherwise you`ll get punished in this division. Every game is a hard one and as a promoted side we knew what we`d be up against this year. Momentum is important and if you can pick up some results in a row then you`ll do well – that`s the sort of belief we have here in the group – things may not be going our way at the moment but we know that we can turn things around and go on one of those types of runs. The table is so tight and every team in the bottom half will be saying the same sort of thing – if they can get a run together then they`ll do well, and that`s exactly what we`re thinking.’
He ended by saying.
‘Hopefully I can kick on now in the side, it`s been a really frustrating year for me. That`s ironic really because It`s the longest period I`ve had in a Premier League squad, but I haven`t played. I`d say it`s been the most frustrating part of my career, but now I`m raring to go, I feel really good and hopefully I can have an impact on the team in the coming months.’
