Manager Chris Hughton and goalscorer Dale Stephens have both spoken of their disappointment at the final result against Queens Park Rangers last night.
Beginning with Hughton, in his after match interviews with the media, he was heavily frustrated with how the side threw away the two goal lead.
In quotes carried by the Official Site, he explained.
‘When you`re 2-0 up you want to get the three points. It was tough at the end with the sending off, but the first goal changed things. They have a lot of pace and power in the team and play direct to the front. We knew they would cause us problems and it was about whether we could defend that well enough for 90, 97 minutes. The players showed the character they have shown all season and they needed that today, because we might`ve gone under in that last bit, and I have got to give our lads credit. At that stage, they were going for it with four players upfront and they played a lot of deliveries in with pace. So in the end, we held out, but very much deserved it.’
Having been reduced to ten men following the second yellow card shown to Lewis Dunk in the game, before they grabbed the equaliser, Hughton went on to say that he could have no complaints about the decision of the referee.
‘It was tough at the end with the sending off. There was no doubt that Lewis is stretching for the ball and it is possibly a yellow. I was annoyed because there was a similar challenge in the first half by Sandro that did not get a booking.’
With a top of the Championship table clash up next against Middlesbrough, Hughton went on to say.
‘At the minute, they`re all big games. We came into this one thinking this might be the toughest of the season and then we go into the Middlesbrough one, which is a similar test. We`d certainly rather be playing Middlesbrough at home on Saturday. It`s first versus second and we`d rather be in that position than further down. It`s a great game for the supporters and we`ll need them to be as vocal as what they have been all season.’
As for Stephens, in his own post game interview he had to reluctantly take the point from the game given how it played out and the ending of the match did take the shine of his strike.
‘The goal would`ve meant much more if it had contributed to three points. The overall feeling from the game is disappointment. We took a 2-0 lead, which we should be holding on to, but it`s a difficult place to come. We`ve got a few injuries and had Dunky sent off as well, so it added to the pressure and they got back into the game. They threw everything at us, especially with us going down to ten men. Obviously we`re not happy with the point, but we`ve got to take that in the end considering how the game went.’
Moving onto Middlesbrough himself, he added.
‘It`s good that the unbeaten run keeps going, but it`s a massive game coming up this Saturday so all the focus is on that one. It`s going to be difficult, but we played against Derby last week and gave a good account of ourselves, so I`m sure we`ll go into that game full of confidence and looking to get a result. We knew the fixtures in December were tough. There are a lot of games as well, but we can only focus on the next game.’
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