Hughton happy with team performance

Brighton manager Chris Hughton has praised his side after they held out for a 1-0 win against Newcastle.
Chris HughtonChris Hughton
Chris Hughton

Tomer Hemed scored early in the second half but the Albion defence was kept busy as the Magpies pushed for an equaliser.

Hughton said: "I'm very pleased with the manner of how we had to win.

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"Once we got the goal it's very difficult. You either press the game and lose spaces or you try and make it compact which allows them a fair amount of ball, particularly when a Shelvey comes on, so we had to defend well which I thought we did really well to protect that lead.

"I thought it was a good overall performance. Particularly the start of the game, at home, you want to start the game well and I thought we did. "They were very good on the counter attack and looked very threatening so I thought overall, as a team performance, I'm really happy."

Newcastle, who came into the game following three wins in succession, were Brighton's main rivals for the Championship title last season.

Hughton said: "I think they're a good side, Newcastle, and we've obviously watched their last three games - and I thought they deserved to win the last three games - but we found that they're quite similar in the way that they play. Probably just a little bit more pace off the front but they're very much a 4-4-1-1 team.

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"I suppose if you're looking at any sort of barometer then yes it was nice to win but they would look at it that they're still two points above us."

The victory makes it two home wins in a row, building on the 3-1 win over West Brom and home form could be key to the Seagulls' survival chances.

"It's going to be important because any points that you get this season then my thinking is that there'll be more at home than away which is normal for this league.

"We've got to make sure that this is a tough place for teams to come. We've been very good here the last couple of seasons but we're up against better opposition."