Manager Chris Hughton has spoken of his disappointment at seeing Brighton lose out on three points as Everton equalised late on in the game this weekend.
Hosting Ronald Koeman’s side at the Amex Stadium for the game on Sunday, Brighton did have the lead through Anthony Knockaert’s 82nd minute goal, but Wayne Rooney levelled the game from the penalty spot in the 90th minute to take a share of the points.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media for his post game press conference, Hughton was disappointed to see the side not hold on for the final few minutes to take the win that he felt would’ve been worthy.
‘I`m incredibly disappointed. At this moment, because of the timing of the goals, it feels more like a defeat rather than a draw. We were up against a very good Everton side, they were good with the ball and had lots of quality – but at that stage, I couldn`t see them scoring. We had to defend well, through periods in both halves but particularly in the second half. But as the game opened up, I thought we were the side that would capitalise and we did.’
With the penalty coming from Bruno’s clash with Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Knockaert had ‘tactically’ conceded a free kick, Hughton said of the incident.
‘With the free-kick we gave away, sometimes you’ll settle for a professional foul in that area, because if they’d taken that ball further into our box then the consequences can be greater. We’re 1-0 up, it’s our corner and they break from our corner for the penalty. But it can happen, they’ve got good pace in the side.’
He added.
‘I’ve got no complaints with the penalty. In fairness to Bruno, there had been a lot of aerial duels. He wanted to use his body and impede the run in front of him. Because there had been a lot of pushing before that, the referee’s eyes were on it.’
With goalkeeper Mathew Ryan pulling off two saves of particular note late on in stoppage time to ensure we took a point from the encounter, Hughton went on to say.
‘That’s why we brought him in, and why we work the keepers as hard as we do. We were reliant on some good saves and that’s part and parcel of what we expect our keepers to do. It’s been a tough week for him travelling back from Australia, but he came back with a spring in his step having qualified for the play-offs next month.’
