Head Coach Dean Smith gave his post-match verdict on the 3-0 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion.
“Until the first goal it could have gone either way,” said Dean. “We had chances; they had chances but once they got the goal they were very difficult to break down. We had a lot of the ball, didn’t open them up as well as we should with enough potency up front but we got counter attacked and got sucker punched.”
The Bees boss looked to the opening goal by Albion's Anthony Knockaert as the decisive factor in the match.
“The first goal was always going to be important,” said Dean. “The second goal was a poor one to give away. In fact, the first two were poor, I think Maxime’s thought the ball’s going out of play and I thought the outstanding player of the night – Jamie Murphy – and he gave Maxime a really tough time tonight and unfortunately we’ve given sloppy goals away and when you do that you’re always chasing the game.”
Despite his team’s possession in the early part of the second half, they could not convert that into goals.
“That’s something that we’re trying to work on,” said Dean. “When a team can afford to bank up and break on you – we looked more dangerous in the first 25 minutes, both teams had spells where they could have got a goal but unfortunately the first goal changed it.”
Bees PlayerHD subscribers can watch the full interview with Dean below: