Manager Chris Hughton has praised the desire of the Brighton team for battling right through to the final minute in the weekend’s game against Birmingham City.
Travelling to St Andrew’s Stadium to face off against now Gianfranco Zola’s new side following the surprise jettisoning of Gary Rowett, whilst we had the better possession the game was very balanced in terms of efforts and the hosts took the lead in the second half but goals inside of the final 10 minutes of normal time from Anthony Knockaert and a Glenn Murray 95th minute effort returned all three points from the trip.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press conference, it was the never say die attitude of the group that pleased Hughton most as we continued to keep the pressure on Newcastle United at the top of the Championship table.
‘We showed great spirit at the end. Solly March, who we`ve waited on for a while, was excellent when he came on, and we went a little more direct in that last period. I felt with the momentum of the game, we could try and get the win; but on most occasions you don`t get it as late as we did. I can understand the other side, because we`ve all been there, Birmingham wanted to protect the 1-1 but we showed great spirit. It`s something that Glenn is used to doing. Today wasn`t one of his better games, but he`s got an ability to score goals. You need those vital moments, because we were always going to put them under pressure and stretch the play, and you need those moments to get the goals.’
March came in for further praise for his performance following his introduction in the second period and the player did of course set up Knockaert for the leveller.
‘Solly showed great quality with the cross for the first goal, and then we certainly showed a real desire to score the second one. I thought he was excellent when he came on, sometimes when you bring on that type of player, it doesn`t happen because you can`t find the rhythm of the game, but it was a big evening for him.’
As for Knockaert directly, Hughton went on to say.
‘Anthony`s goal set us on the path to securing the win, he showed great quality. He`s a creative player that started the season very well, getting assists and goals, he took a little bit of a dip but he`s one player that can still produce something.’
