Mendoza
NSC's Most Stalked
Hammond: Blame the players
By Andy Naylor
DEAN Hammond admitted today the players, not the boss, are to blame for the relegation mess Albion now find themselves in.
The skipper insists they and not Dean Wilkins must take responsibility for Saturday's 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Brentford which has left the Seagulls only two points above the drop zone.
Hammond said: "It was a disappointing result and display. We didn't create too many chances in the first half. We didn't play with the fluency we wanted to and we didn't do what we worked on during training, so it's down to us. We weren't thinking as individuals, we didn't play the way we should have played and the way we know we can play."
Hammond went close to equalising and ending Albion's 400-minute goal famine with two second-half headers after Kerry Mayo saw red at the end of the first half for two bookable offences.
"We played better with ten men than we did with 11," said Hammond.
"We created some chances and half chances but it isn't quite bouncing for us in the box. I think when we get one goal we are going to get two or three. One of these days somebody is going to get a good hiding. I missed a couple of chances. I'll work even harder on my finishing and try to score a goal on Tuesday."
Albion will swap places with Leyton Orient towards the foot of the table if they lose for the ninth time in 12 matches at Brisbane Road tomorrow night.
Hammond, who had a loan spell with Orient, said: "We have got to dust ourselves down. We have got another very important game now and there is no point worrying about things. We need to get on with it and go for it.
"If we play the way we know we can and do the things we are good at then I think we will win. It's the little things that happen in a game that make the difference and if we get them right I think everything will start clicking."
Sam Rents will take over at left-back from Mayo, who is also suspended for Saturday's visit of Nottingham Forest. Mayo's ban for two fouls on Brentford's teenage winger Charlie Ide is doubled from one match to two, because it was his second red card of the season.
By Andy Naylor
DEAN Hammond admitted today the players, not the boss, are to blame for the relegation mess Albion now find themselves in.
The skipper insists they and not Dean Wilkins must take responsibility for Saturday's 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Brentford which has left the Seagulls only two points above the drop zone.
Hammond said: "It was a disappointing result and display. We didn't create too many chances in the first half. We didn't play with the fluency we wanted to and we didn't do what we worked on during training, so it's down to us. We weren't thinking as individuals, we didn't play the way we should have played and the way we know we can play."
Hammond went close to equalising and ending Albion's 400-minute goal famine with two second-half headers after Kerry Mayo saw red at the end of the first half for two bookable offences.
"We played better with ten men than we did with 11," said Hammond.
"We created some chances and half chances but it isn't quite bouncing for us in the box. I think when we get one goal we are going to get two or three. One of these days somebody is going to get a good hiding. I missed a couple of chances. I'll work even harder on my finishing and try to score a goal on Tuesday."
Albion will swap places with Leyton Orient towards the foot of the table if they lose for the ninth time in 12 matches at Brisbane Road tomorrow night.
Hammond, who had a loan spell with Orient, said: "We have got to dust ourselves down. We have got another very important game now and there is no point worrying about things. We need to get on with it and go for it.
"If we play the way we know we can and do the things we are good at then I think we will win. It's the little things that happen in a game that make the difference and if we get them right I think everything will start clicking."
Sam Rents will take over at left-back from Mayo, who is also suspended for Saturday's visit of Nottingham Forest. Mayo's ban for two fouls on Brentford's teenage winger Charlie Ide is doubled from one match to two, because it was his second red card of the season.
