Chris Hughton felt his Brighton & Hove Albion side did not deserve to lose their Good Friday clash with Norwich City at the Amex.Former Seagull Bradley Johnson's second-half goal proved the difference, as he gave the Canaries a valuable 1-0 win in their promotion quest.
Seagulls boss Hughton told seagulls.co.uk, "They were very good in the first 20 minutes and we found it difficult to get close to them.
"They've got a lot of good footballers and they're a team that are in real good form at the moment, but after that period I thought we were excellent.
"We had the better chances and if we put our chances away towards the end of that first-half period then I think it would have been a different story.
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"The one real bit of quality that they showed in the final third got them the goal and it was always going to be tough after that.
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"It was that one bit of quality from Nathan Redmond that changed the game. They are a team that most fancied at the start of the season to go straight back up again and if I look at their recruitment in the summer – that first 20 minutes showed that.
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"It was a good finish, I think he still had a bit to do. Once Redmond had got free, I looked at our defensive positions and I don't think that we did too much wrong, but I was delighted with the attitude afterwards.
"We probed and made some changes, really went for it – the crowd were excellent. The feeling at the moment is that we certainly didn't deserve to lose."
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Albion have just under 72 hours to recover before the Bank Holiday Monday game at Rotherham United, where they will be without skipper Gordon Greer, after he was booked for the tenth time this season.
"It's a big blow. We lost Lewis Dunk for the same period, but he is back, but the games are going to come thick and fast.
"We've got a couple of days to recover before a tough away game at Rotherham and before today when we looked at it that we had five games in just over a two week period it's tough going, but it's the same for everybody and we will dust ourselves down and go again.
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"These are all big games and we have six left now. I said to the players before the game that I don't see Monday’s game any more difficult or easier than today.
"It will be a tough game, it’s away from home and we got a good result in our last game away from home so we need to do the same again."
* [h=2]UPCOMING HOME FIXTURES[/h][h=3]ALBION V BOURNEMOUTH
[/h]FRIDAY 10TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V HUDDERSFIELD
[/h]TUESDAY 14TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V WATFORD
[/h]SATURDAY 25TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 12.15PM
Chris Hughton felt his side lacked a clinical edge after they were beaten 1-0 by Norwich City at the Amex, but praised the performance of Greg Halford after his solid display.
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He said, “We really came into the game and got into some really good positions. Most of them fell to Joao [Teixeira] and he is one on one with the keeper when Beram [Kayal] sets him up – it’s a great chance for us and that sums up the small margins in the game.
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“Unless you get that goal, then there’s that chance that you’re going to make a mistake or they’re going to show a bit of quality to win the game and that’s how it panned out.
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“For us it’s about making sure that we can compete in games against the top teams – we did that and we made a really good account of ourselves, but they’re the margins that are pushing Norwich on at the moment.“I thought Greg was very calm and collected and I kept him in the team because we’re on the back of two clean sheets. I felt that he deserved that opportunity. Lewis Dunk is a very good player and the only plus with missing Gordon is Dunky is now back and available.
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“Joao’s performance was very much like the game. In that first 20 minutes he gave the ball away far too often for someone of his ability. When the game turned in our favour, then he was very good."
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Norwich City manager Alex Neil admitted that his side were not at their best following a win 1-0 at the Amex and insists there is plenty of room for improvement.He told the Eastern Daily Press, “Attacking-wise there is more to come from us. When you come to somewhere like Brighton, you know that they don’t concede very many goals.
“They are very sound defensively. You can see that when they play against the top teams at home and due to their style of play. They are stubborn, work extremely hard, and are well-organised. They have also got some good players in their squad as well.
“We believed if we played to our full potential then we would win the match. We flitted in and out of reaching that level, but I thought were excellent in the first 20 minutes.
“We really controlled the game with how we moved the ball and could have scored with a few good opportunities in and around the box.
“To be fair to Brighton, for the last 15 minutes of the first half they became the dominant side and were better than us.
“We didn’t really control the game at that point. We changed a couple of things, had a chat about how we could improve and in the second half, I felt we were the better side without being at our very best.”
[h=3]ALBION V BOURNEMOUTH
[/h]FRIDAY 10TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V HUDDERSFIELD
[/h]TUESDAY 14TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V WATFORD
[/h]SATURDAY 25TH APRIL, KICK-OFF 12.15PM
Original article