Brighton Manager Chris Hughton Calls on His Side to 'Step-Up' After Southampton Draw

Brighton boss Chris Hughton has urged his players to step up in the final stages of the Premier League season following his sides 1-1 draw away to Southampton

Brighton boss Chris Hughton has urged his players to step up in the final stages of the Premier League season following his sides 1-1 draw away to Southampton on Wednesday night.

Glenn Murray's 14th minute penalty had given Hughton's side the lead before a second half equaliser from Jack Stephens' earned a point for the hosts.

FT: Albion secure a point away from home against @SouthamptonFC. Stephens hit back for the hosts in the second half to cancel out Murray’s early opener from the penalty spot. A fair result and a share of the spoils for both teams. #SFC 1 #BHAFC 1 #SOUBHA pic.twitter.com/wwmfYk1N7W

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 31, 2018

Speaking to the Brighton club website after the match, Hughton said: “I think we were well worthy of the point that we’ve got. When you come here, with the way that they play and the players that they’ve got, you’d expect them to have good possession and threaten.

“But I think we restricted them to one half-chance or so. We had a lot of the ball and threatened ourselves, and we were resilient in what we did.

“Probably on the balance of play, especially with us being the away team, I thought a draw was a fair result."

Hughton, however, was disappointed by the nature of Stephens' equaliser, which came when a deflection off Brighton's defensive wall fell to the defender in the Brighton area: 

“It was frustrating to give away the free-kick. They’ve got great quality from free-kicks, particularly in the wide areas - and that ball shouldn't have got to the place where it did.

GOAL! Jack Stephens has equalised for Southampton!#SOUBHA

— 90min (@90min_Football) January 31, 2018

“The lad did very well on the goal, but it shouldn't have got that far. At that stage, even though they were threatening, we were still reasonably comfortable."

The result leaves Albion 15th in the league, one point clear of the relegation zone, Hughton said: “This is the time for players to step up, and it’s becoming quite obvious that going into this last third of the season, it’s going to be the team that stands out from the rest."

Brighton's next game sees them host West Ham at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.