Newcastle struggled to break down the Brighton defence
Fabian Hurzele gestures during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Newcastle United at Amex Stadium
Brighton & Hove Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler has his praised his side’s ability to restrict Newcastle United to a handful of chances in their 2-1 win at the Amex Stadium on Saturday. The Seagulls won 2-1 thanks to a brace of goals from Danny Welbeck.
Newcastle’s only real moment of magic throughout the game when Nick Woltemade scored a brilliant backheel to equalise Welbeck’s opener.
At this point, Newcastle looked like they were getting on top but couldn’t press home their advantage. A melee in the box from a set piece was about as close as they came to finding a second goal.
Hurzeler said his team dealt really well with the Magpies, and in a little barb at United he said their only real threat was via set pieces and long throws as the visitors relied on their physical presence rather than an ability to carve out chances from open play.
“[I was pleased] with our possession with courage, how we defended.,” Hurzeler said. “I think there weren’t a lot of chances for Newcastle.
“Of course, they there was a dangers with the set pieces, with long throw ins, because they have just a very tall team and therefore really good headers. But overall, I think we defended quite well.”
Having seen their lead wiped out by Woltemade’s moment of magic, Hurzeler was pleased with how his young Brighton charges didn’t panic.
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They eventually grabbed a late winner through Welbeck’s second of the match to leapfrog United into ninth in the Premier League table, with Newcastle now 12th.
Hurzeler added: “We had a lot of good actions. I think we scored in the right moment. Then we missed to score a second goal.
“I think there were plenty of chances where we can make the second goal but overall we stick together and then after the setback during the game we reacted well and we showed character and personality.
“We stayed calm. We stay to focus on our style of play. We stick to our principles and then you then you get the rewards. If you get unstructured, if you try to immediately show reaction then I think it won’t happen.
“But today we showed a great reaction. We stayed in our structure.”
