Brighton manager Graham Potter praises team’s ‘fantastic defensive effort’ against Southampton

The south coast teams played out an exciting 1-1 draw at St Mary’s Stadium on Thursday night (July 16), which saw Brighton go ahead through Neal Maupay and Southampton later equalise through Danny Ings. 

Brighton boss Graham Potter said: “If we are being honest Southampton were much better in the second half and pushed us back. We had to defend with our lives and make blocks.

“Mat Ryan made an incredible save and I am delighted for him because he had a difficult evening last time out.

”We were in control in the first half but they responded and played with freedom. They are in a good place and we knew that, we battled well and it’s a really important point for us. 37 points is better than 36 but we want more of course.”

“Every point is hard earned in the Premier League. We’ve got two more games to get some more and this was an important point.

“Mat Ryan wasn’t happy about his performance against Manchester City but that’s the ups and downs of football, sometimes you’re the hero and sometimes you’re the villain.

“We have found resilience away from home and all credit to the players. Our defensive effort was fantastic.”
A tale of two halves saw Brighton dominate the first and Southampton the second.

Both team’s top scorers scored in typical strikers’ fashion to add to their tally’s for the season. 

Brighton were knocking on the door early on in the first half and broke the deadlock in the seventeenth minute through Neal Maupay. 

Glenn Murray’s clever run inside the Southampton box was found by Tariq Lamptey’s long throw-in, and the veteran striker’s deft flicked-on header landed perfectly into the path of Maupay who smashed a low left-footed drive past Alex McCarthy.

Murray had another good opportunity just before the end of the first half but instead of taking a first time shot on his left foot, he cut back inside onto his right and was closed down well by three Southampton defenders.  

Southampton came back out in the second half and played with a much higher defensive line, pinning Brighton back and targeting the space in behind the Seagulls’ fullbacks with long diagonal balls.

In the fifty-fifth minute, Ings smashed the post after cutting in on his right from the left, using Lamptey as a decoy to bend his shot around.

Ings’ effort came off the post and landed at the feet of Che Adams, whose shot was brilliantly blocked on the line by Brighton captain Lewis Dunk. 

However, the danger was not dealt with by Brighton and a diagonal ball into Ings, who peeled off round the back of his marker, saw the striker deliver an on-the-volley left-footed cross across the face of goal, but a sliding Adams couldn’t finish the chance off. 

Brighton nearly doubled their lead against the run of play in the sixty-second minute after a counter attack eventually saw the ball land at the feet of Leandro Trossard in the box - after some good work from Aaron Mooy - but the Belgian’s fierce effort was blocked well by Jannick Vestergaard. 

Southampton equalised on the sixty-fourth minute through Ings, who was played in behind Tariq Lamptey by Nathan Redmond, and the Englishman took two touches and used his third to tuck the ball past Maty Ryan and score his 20th goal of the season - three behind top scorer Jamie Vardy. 

On the seventy-second minute, Vestergaard nearly registered the goal of the season so far, and Maty Ryan put himself in contention for save of the season after the Australian goalkeeper finger-tipped Vestergaard’s 30-yard cannon of a shot onto the underside of the bar. 

Brighton went close to going ahead, against the run of play, through Yves Bissouma, but the midfielder, with the goal at his mercy, fired wide of the Southampton goal.

In the eightieth minute, Adam Webster produced a brilliant sliding block to deny another good opportunity for Adams and secure the point for his team - leaving Brighton on 37 and in need of one more point from two games to secure their Premier League status for next season.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “At half-time it was a disaster, we were not the team you have seen in the last weeks in the first half. But we played much quicker, made the right decisions and it was a good game in the second half.

“We made a few changes, maybe too many but what can you do? There was a lack of automatism and a lack of speed. We didn’t find the right tools in the first half but it was a very intensive rebuild at half-time.

“We had big, big opportunities to win this game. Danny Ings, the progress he has made in this year is amazing. He is fit, he works so hard, he wins the ball so many times. This is definitely a striker who deserves so many goals.”

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