Manager Chris Hughton has given his full thoughts on Friday evening’s victory over Leeds United.
Hosting Garry Monk’s side at the Amex Stadium for the game, Brighton took the two one victory with goals coming from the penalty spot for Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed and for Friday evening at least, Brighton topped the Championship table until Saturday’s fixtures rolled around.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press conference following the Sky televised match, a pleased Hughton explained that he felt we were more than worthy of victory on the day owing to the performance, but he more than acknowledged that the timing of the opening goal was key for us.
‘I thought it was a very good all-round performance against a very good side, who I think will be there or thereabouts and they`re on a tremendous run. We knew we`d have to be good all over the pitch today, and I thought we were. I don`t think you`re ever in control of a game when you`re up against a good side, but I certainly felt we were the better side. At that stage (opening penalty), if it looked like anybody was going to score, I thought it would have been us. We`re the home side, the side that have to push the hardest, but it was certainly a turning point because you can`t win games if you don`t score goals. It was a nailed on penalty, the referee did very well to see it from his position, and certainly that changed the game in regards to goals.’
With Solly March being handed his first league appearance of the season at the Amex following his long road back to fitness following injury, Hughton went on to talk about the strength in depth that we had at the club.
‘I`m delighted for him. Any player that goes through a longer injury goes through a tough time, and we`ve had a consistent side, so it`s been difficult for him. We`re going through a period of games now where you need as many players available as possible, and probably before his injury, he was playing as good as I`d ever seen him.’
Hughton went on to add.
‘That`s what the squad`s for, dealing with busy period. What I`ll do is pick the team that is appropriate for each game, but we know we`ll get through periods where we`re picking up injuries. It just so happens that at the moment, apart from Liam Rosenior, we don`t have any injuries. But at some stage we will, and that`s when you need the depth in your squad.’
With the three points seeing Brighton go top for a period, Hughton went on to praise the squad’s consistency so far this year to really be making a battle of it with Newcastle who sit a point ahead ahead of us in the table going into Tuesday’s fixtures.
‘We`ll talk no more about the following week or where we are in the table, but we have to be delighted. Not only with the table, but with the performances and consistency from this group of lads. That`s based on clean sheets, we`ve been a hard team to beat, but we`ve also got a lot of attacking quality in the team. It`s important to keep these levels up.’
