Brighton’s latest pre season friendly against Girona earlier this week may have ended in stalemate but manager Chris Hughton was pleased with what he saw.
Heading to the Spanish side at the Nou Estadi Municipal de Palamos, the match ended scoreless but we did have efforts ruled out on the day from Jamie Murphy and Tomer Hemed for offside.
We also ended the game with ten men after Glenn Murray was sent off, so it was a pretty lively affair.
Brighton:
Ryan, Rosenior, Dunk, Duffy, Bong, Murphy, Stephens, Kayal, Brown, Gross, Hemed.
Subs:
Bruno (Stephens 46), Maenpaa (Ryan 73), Huenemeier (Dunk 73), Goldson (Rosenior 73), Suttner (Bong 73), Murray (Hemed 73), Skalak (Gross 77), March (Murphy 77), LuaLua (Brown 81).
Yellows – Bong, Murray.
Reds – Murray.
Girona:
Iraizoz, Alcala, Olivas, Diaby, Maffeo, Granell, Amagat, A. Garcia, Alamo, Boulaya, Soni.
Subs:
Bono, Bernardo, Ramalho, Stuani, Pons, Portu, Aday, Luiz, Marlos, B. Garcia, Andzouana, Villa, Romero, Suarez.
Referee: Victor Garcia Verdura.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media following the game, Hughton was pleased with the run out and the performance the team put in even if we couldn’t take victory.
‘It was a very good work out. I am really pleased because they changed their team at half-time and their side in the second half was probably the stronger one. But I thought we were good right the way through to the end. The only disappointment is we didn`t make better use of the good areas we got into, or make enough of them.’
Adding.
‘It`s the sort of style that we`re going to come against and we`ll play teams that are going to have a lot more possession than us. What we`ve got to be able to do is stick in there, try to keep some clean sheets and put in good enough performances to win games.’
With Murray being sent off, Hughton thought that was harsh on balance but no suspensions will arise from it so he wasn’t overly concerned.
‘The first one was a bit of frustration. He booked him for dissent and then he`s gone for the ball in a firm way, but I didn`t see anything wrong with the challenge. The referee probably saw a bit of frustration from him, but from what I`ve been told, we`ll be fine because it`s two yellows not a straight red. I didn`t think he`d miss games, if it had been a straight red then I might have thought that, but I am pretty sure that will be the case.’
Onto Atletico Madrid at the Amex at the weekend now.
