Following today’s clash between Brighton and Coventry City, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Brighton hosted Coventry City at the Amex Stadium in the FA Cup for a 3pm kick off on Saturday February 17, with the hosts taking a comfortable three one victory.
Record signing Jurgen Locadia found the net after 15 minutes to get them underway and score on his debut following his January arrival at the Amex and Connor Goldson doubled their advantage just after the half hour mark. Leonardo Ulloa added a third to register his first goal for the club following his return from Leicester City.
Coventry did get on the scoresheet via Jonson Clarke-Harris but it was only a consolation for them in what had been an excellent FA Cup campaign so far.
Brighton reach the quarter final stage of the FA Cup for the first time since 1986.
Teams:
Brighton:
Krul (Maenpaa 45), Bruno, Goldson, Hunemeier, Suttner, Knockaert, Kayal, Stephens (Propper 45), March, Locadia (Baldock 77), Ulloa.
Substitutes:
Dunk, Hemed, Izquierdo, Rosenior.
Coventry:
Burge, Grimmer (McDonald 57), Willis, Hyam, Haynes, Barrett (Biamou 79), Bayliss, Kelly, Shipley, Clarke-Harris, McNulty (Ponticelli 74).
Substitutes:
Stokes, Vincenti, O’Brien, Kelly-Evans.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Craig Pawson blew the final whistle, Brighton manager Chris Hughton explained.
‘It’s a really good feeling, and a win that our application deserved. Credit to Coventry who made us work hard, but I think we’d had a good enough grasp to hang on even after their late goal. ‘We certainly deserved it. A lot of the talk before the game to the players was about attitude and the type of game it was and that if you don’t match the opposition’s endeavour then you can make it a difficult afternoon, but we started well and our application was really good. It’s obvious the difference in the levels but the only way you can show that is by applying yourself well.’
He added with Jurgen Locadia’s debut.
‘Yes it was great to see him score, but getting 70-75 minutes was more important. He’s looking fitter, and he’s come into a good group, a competitive group, and its nice to think that he doesn’t feel the pressure.’
Coventry manager Mark Robins in his comparative interview explained.
‘Rather than trying to park the bus we wanted to try and take part in the game. It was important for us to do that, not just for today, because it’s a big learning curve, but also moving forward in our league because we want to get promoted as quickly as we can. It was a good experience for us in terms of learning and development but also I thought we were a threat. We didn’t just sit back. Our support has been absolutely magnificent throughout my time at the club but with that comes high expectation and the players have to deal with that. It will stand us in good stead moving forward. It was a positive experience even though we lost, everything was there to help and aid learning and give us the knowledge we can compete in terms of creating opportunities in the game. It should give them confidence knowing we can play and compete and we have scored goals against two Premier League teams and really could have had a couple more.’
