Hughton Pep Talk Inspires Win

Brighton manager Chris Hughton admitted that his team talk at half-time against Huddersfield helped deliver a crucial win.

Florin Andone came off the bench to head the winner from Anthony Knockaert’s cross 11 minutes from time, his fourth league goal of the season.

But in a poor first half, Brighton had struggled to find the intensity necessary to get past the Premier League’s bottom team. “It had to be a balance of getting into the players and telling them what I thought, but making sure they didn’t lose control,” Hughton said of his pep talk.

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“The message was that we didn’t want to leave ourselves open, and we didn’t have to score in the first five minutes, but that we expected more. “I thought it was the right result in the end, but there were not many clear chances and it was a matter of putting one or a couple away. Florin managed to do that.” Brighton’s recent poor run, Hughton admitted, had shocked some players. “The team has been knocked and it has been a fright.

For some who don’t know the Premier League as much as others, that is how tough it is. I think we have enough character and quality but everyone else is fighting. We just have to fight harder.”