Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton tonight dedicated his side's thrilling 3-2 victory over Ipswich to the memory of Matt Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, and all those victims of last week's Shoreham air crash.Albion groundsman Matt and club supporter Jacob were among those that passed away in the tragedy and Hughton has been filled with the pride in which the way the club, supporters and community have reacted to such a devastating incident.
He said, "It's been an emotional week, and our focus was particularly with Matt being one of our ground staff* and a massive Brighton supporter; everyone wanted to do well for him.
"That's not taking anything away from Jacob who had very close ties to the club too, and of course all those others that lost their lives because it is something that has affected all of us.
"The club and supporters have done an outstanding job in supporting the families and authorities, and it was our responsibility to do the best that we could today.
"It was a wonderful tribute from the players and all the staff to dedicate such a good win, in particular to Matt and Jacob because they had the closest ties to the club, but of course to all that lost their lives."
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"I thought we played some excellent football, but probably the biggest disappointment was that after going 2-0 up, we let them peg it back to 2-2.
"At that moment, I didn’t feel it showed an accurate reflection of the game, but we showed great character to come back. It’s very difficult when you’re away from home and all the momentum is with the home side. On most occasions, the home side would then go onto win.
"But I thought our counter-attacking was very good today and there were times where we could’ve made it a bit more comfortable for ourselves, but they are a very good side."
The Albion boss praised the work rate of Sam Baldock and Tomer Hemed and was delighted to give Bobby Zamora his second Albion debut.
"We needed to make a change at that stage because the front two had to put in a real hard stint, so if any players were going to be replaced today then it would be them.
"I was pleased to see Bobby come on. He’s got another two weeks until our next game and that will give us two more weeks to work with him."
[h=3]ALBION V HULL CITY*
[/h]SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER, KICK-OFF 3PM
[h=3]ALBION V ROTHERHAM UNITED*
[/h]SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V CARDIFF CITY
[/h]SATURDAY 3RD OCTOBER, KICK-OFF 3PM
Original article