Manager Chris Hughton had already given his thoughts on defeat to Norwich on Friday evening, and Steve Sidwell has offered up his own reflection on the day.
Making the trip to Carrow Road for Friday evening’s live game on the telebox, two extremely unfortunate own goals by David Stockdale gave the hosts the two nil win and Hughton admitted post game that we hadn’t really deserved anything based on the showing.
The Official Site carried Hughton’s thoughts on the night of the game.
‘I can`t say we deserved more than what we got. They moved the ball better than us. We had some decent periods in that first half, but fell short of the standards that we`ve set all season, and you cant afford to do that. Overall, we appreciate that there weren`t too many efforts from them. They`ve had two shots on target, and in theory they aren`t even classed as being on target. The second one came after a very good penalty appeal, which was turned down, and I`ve been told that it certainly was a penalty. They`re a good side with a lot of good players, but I don`t think we`ve played well enough. Some of that was down to the emotion of the week we`ve had. You can`t afford that in any game, because they`re all challenges. The two remaining games that we`ve got are certainly going to be no easier than what we had today.’
With two long rangers from Alex Pritchard coming back off the woodwork and into the back of Stockdale before going in, he actually hadn’t faced a shot on target in the game and Hughton knew it was one of those things as we should’ve closed him down far sooner than we did.
‘They were two good strikes. It`s difficult for David because what we`ve managed to do for most of the season is restrict those type of efforts in front of our goal. We wasn`t able to do that today and when you give somebody of quality an opportunity there, it makes it very difficult for the goalkeeper. So it`s very unfortunate for David, but if you allow players that space and time, then that can happen.’
With victory having meant the title and three more points now being required, that’s obviously the aim for Bristol City next weekend.
‘Today was our next game, so we`d have preferred to have done it today. I`m very disappointed, but hopefully we can be back on our game next week. It certainly won`t be any easier. We`re up against a Bristol City side that are fighting to get points, but we`d certainly like to do it sooner rather than later. We know that after next week, we`ve got a very tough game away at Aston Villa, so next week is our next, best opportunity.’
As for Sidwell, in his following interview over the weekend he called on Brighton to refocus and not let this disappointment derail what continues to be a great end of season for us.
‘We had a great day on Monday along with the fans, manager and chairman. Everyone celebrated in the right way, but we knuckled down from Tuesday onwards. We knew we still had a job to do and had the intentions of doing that. It wasn`t our night, but it could be a blessing in disguise and a kick up the backside that we need. When we`ve had a defeat, more often than not we`ve come back and responded very well and I don`t expect this to be any different. Don`t get me wrong, what`s happened this week for the football club has been brilliant for the town, for the people involved and for the owners. But it`s still not finished yet and we want the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. We deserve to get it and we`ll be fighting very hard next week against Bristol, but firstly we`ll be putting the hard work in Monday to Friday in training.’
Sidwell also had words of praise for Stockdale for his individual night.
‘The goals themselves were freakish. To have one in the game and then one 20 minutes afterwards is something that has never happened to Stocko before, and I`ve never seen it either. Of course he`ll be disappointed as every keeper would be, especially after the season he`s had. He`s been one of our top performers and nothing like that would tarnish his season in our eyes. Other than that it was an open game and we had our fair share of chances, but we lacked that sense of urgency and that extra bit of bite.’
