Sunday 22 March 2015 17:22, UK
Brighton boss Chris Hughton praised the performance of lone striker Chris O'Grady in the impressive 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers in the Sky Bet Championship.
The key contribution came midway through the first half when Matt Kilgallon headed past his own goalkeeper but the inviting cross came from O'Grady who also hit the post early on.
It was Brighton's first win at Ewood Park since 1990 and their first away victory since early January, and Hughton was quick to point out the importance of O'Grady's role in the game.
"I thought he was excellent today," he said.
"It's a hard job for him with the system we played against a team you know are going to turn you and get the ball into the front two, you know sometimes the distances between the back and the front are going to be quite big and you're reliant on somebody to hold that ball well for you.
"I think particularly on quite a difficult pitch as well, I thought he was really excellent for us today."
The result, which leaves Brighton 10 points clear of the relegation zone with 21 to play for, carries on their recent good run against Blackburn, who they have not lost against in six meetings during the last three seasons, and Hughton was in no doubt that they deserved maximum points.
He said: "I thought our game management today was very good. I know they've had a few problems here with injuries and amount of games but they're still a very good outfit with a threat up front and I thought, particularly in the first half, I thought we kept the ball well in the periods we had to, defended well for 90 minutes which you know you're going to have to, and got a bit of fortune with the goal. But I thought we deserved it overall."
"We're delighted with the progress we've made."
For Blackburn, the chances of making the play-offs look to be fading.
A second home defeat in a week leaves them 13 points from the top six but while manager Gary Bowyer was critical of his side's first-half display, he believes Jordan Rhodes had a perfectly good goal ruled out in that period when he was adjudged to have fouled David Stockdale.
He said: "The goal probably matched the quality of the game. It wasn't a classic was it? I didn't see a great deal wrong with our goal that got chalked off by the way. It looked similar to Lee Grant's last night. I've looked at that several times. The goalies get a hell of a lot of protection and it looked very similar to last night's goal, but we were nowhere near good enough in the first half. Nowhere near.
"Second half, we had a bit more of a go and then their goalie, to be fair to him, has pulled out two great saves.
"I think obviously with the restrictions under us with the embargo, the amount of games we've had to play including the cup run and games you play just after the cup games, we've played I think 13 games in the last 43 days and that probably took its toll. That said, we had a go in the second half but we were limited with our numbers. Everyone fit at the club was involved today.
"But the players out there were more than capable of winning the game today."
