Chris Hughton
Image by: Paul Hazlewood
PUBLISHED
18:12 31st January 2015
by Paul Camillin
We were not able to impose ourselves on them in the way we would have liked"
Chris Hughton
Chris Hughton
Brighton & Hove Albion boss Chris Hughton was left to rue a "wonderful strike" from Jamie O'Hara as the Blackpool midfielder provided a rare moment of quality to settle an otherwise poor game on a poor pitch at Bloomfield Road.Hughton felt the pitch didn't help either side create chances or make for a free-flowing game - but did praise former Spurs midfielder O'Hara for his goal.
He said, "With the state of the pitch being what it is, it was either going to be a really scrappy goal that won it or a wonderful strike.
"We were not able to impose ourselves on them in the way we would have liked. They played very direct and it is very difficult to play in any other way on a pitch like this."
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He added, "The wind and conditions are things you have to deal with but on most other pitches in this division you are able to play a different game - but they play a game that suits the conditions here.
"As the game went on I thought we were comfortable enough, but we didn't give ourselves enough chances to win the game.
"We changed it and went two up top to try and give ourselves more opportunities, to hold the ball up and work off things from there."
Hughton thought the free-kick from which O'Hara scored was a debatable decision, citing a foul on Chris O'Grady just prior to it.
"I didn't think it was a foul – Chris O’Grady was fouled on the original throw – but we did ourselves no favours as we had an opportunity to clear the
ball before the referee decided to give a free-kick.
"We gave away one too many free-kicks on the edge of our box, and of course, the more you give away the more opportunities the opposition have in what was always going to be a tight game."
[h=3]ALBION V NOTTINGHAM FOREST
[/h] SATURDAY 7Th FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V BIRMINGHAM
[/h] SATURDAY 21ST FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V LEEDS
[/h] TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 7:45PM
Original article