'I'm not pretty but I'm effective,' says Glenn Murray after Brighton's draw with Watford

Brighton were made to battle hard for a point in a tight relegation encounter against Watford at the Amex.

Abdoulaye Doucoure put Nigel Pearson's men ahead with a fine strike but Alireza Jahanbakhsh's low cross from the right wing was lashed into his own net by Mariappa in the second half to see Graham Potter's men claim a point.

"I think we were the better team going forward but nothing was quite dropping for us," said Murray who was once again selected ahead of Albion's leading scorer Neal Maupay. "They punished us with a breakaway goal in the first half but we controlled the game.

"We had five or six lads back for their goal and sometimes you've got to give them a bit of credit for a great strike.

"They sat back and soaked up our pressure and we played into their hands a bit. We stopped them from playing on the counter attack but struggled to break them down.

"The manager has made me feel wanted and all I can do is give my all for the club. I'm ready to do that. We've been here and we know what we need to do to stay up.

"Having me upfront gives us the option to put a few more balls in the box and perhaps go a bit longer. It's not quite as pretty but hopefully just as effective."

The draw keeps Watford 19th, on 24 points from 26 games, with the Hornets three points behind 15th-placed Brighton, who are three above the drop zone.

Watford keeper Ben Foster said, "The way the goal went in was very disappointing. Maps (Adrian Mariappa) is not trying to score an own goal, but that's football. It can go against you sometimes.

"The way we dropped back is a symptom of where we are in the league. We tried to defend what we had and thought we could weather the storm.

"Brighton threw it all at us today but if it wasn't for the own goal we would have won."