Hasenhüttl: Brighton equaliser "hard to accept"
Ralph Hasenhüttl was left ruing the manner of the goal that condemned an otherwise encouraging Southampton performance to a frustrating draw against Brighton at St Mary’s.
Saints led until the eighth minute of added time following Armando Broja’s fifth goal of the season – the least a dominant first-half display deserved.
But Neal Maupay was in the right place at the right time to redirect a miss-hit shot into the corner of the net to bail out the visitors at the death.
“It’s a pity that we have to speak about the result, and cannot speak about what we have done for 95 minutes before, because I think it was a very good game from our side,” Hasenhüttl reflected.
“As always, football is a game of results and we didn’t take the result that we should take today. This is what is hard to accept, and what is really frustrating.
“I think they had one big chance in the second half and one in the first half. We had a lot, so this is frustrating, but this is football.
“I saw a very, very good, organised team today, against a strong side, but it’s a pity that in the end we don’t take the three points.”
Hasenhüttl was unhappy that the equaliser came about because Alex McCarthy was injured, meaning James Ward-Prowse dropped back to protect his goalkeeper, thus playing Maupay onside.
“I think it is ok when we sometimes concede a goal – we have had three 1-0 wins at home – but the way we conceded is hard to accept, because it was definitely easy to defend this situation,” he continued.
“We had another sub to do. Raise the arm and you can be changed or subbed, and if not you have to be able to defend your goal alone, not with your No 6 needed on the line.
“We dropped him (Ward-Prowse), and then the rebound is not offside, and that’s the reason why he scores. This is very, very hard to take.”
