Brighton boss Hughton: 'I will never accuse my players of not working hard'

Brighton & Hove Albion boss Chris Hughton. Picture courtesy of Getty Images.

The Seagulls found themselves a goal down at the break, thanks to an Ayoze Perez goal, and the statistics made for grim viewing.

Albion had only managed to see 38 per cent of the ball and had failed to register a shot on goal after a dire first 45 minutes.

Brighton's display was met with a chorus of boos from the Albion faithful and the Seagulls looked to be sleep-walking to defeat.

But Brighton's much improved second-half display saw Pascal Gross head home an equaliser to earn Hughton's side a valuable point in their fight against relegation.

The Albion boss said: "I will never accuse my players of not working hard. There's going to be days where we're not at it.

"There were a few harsh words (at half-time), which is normal after a first-half performance like that but credit to the players.

"Sometimes there can be a turn in the game and I think there was a period in the second-half where the momentum was very much with us. That tends to be a nice feeling. "

Before kick-off, Albion had been buoyed by the news earlier in the day that third-from-bottom Cardiff City had been beaten 1-0 at already-relegated Fulham.

Despite everything seeming to fall into place, the Seagulls were well and truly overwhelmed by Newcastle and struggled to adapt to their new 4-4-2 formation.

To combat Brighton's lack of goals, Hughton partnered topscorer Glenn Murray up-front with Florin Andone. But it turned out to be ineffective as the Magpies looked in cruise control after the first-half.

When asked if Albion had been affected by Cardiff's result, Hughton said: "I honestly don't think the result had anything to do with it. If anything you should have a team of players go out filled with confidence.

"We just didn't work the system. We afforded them far too much room and I don't think we worked hard enough in that first-half period.

"We've found it difficult to score goals so we played two up-front. We've picked the worst period of the season to have our worst period of football.