Chris Hughton Admits He Is Proud of His Side's Performance at Old Trafford Despite Losing 1-0

Chris Hughton has insisted he is proud of his team's performance despite losing 1-0 against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

His Brighton side produced a fine defensive display and also caused United's defence some problems throughout the game, however an unlucky own goal by Lewis Dunk was enough to give Jose Mourinho's men all three points.

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Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, when asked if there was a feeling of his side being hard-done-by, he said: "Yes very much so. I thought we made a really good account of ourselves today, we limited United to one really good save Matt Ryan had to make, but apart from not not really a clear chance.

"I thought we had really good periods of possession, and for a team to come here to Old Trafford and have that I think speaks volumes for the group of lads today."

When asked about the lack of luck his side got with the own goal, he said: "Sometimes them margins can be moments of brilliance which you expect here with the quality they've got, or just that little bit of fortune with a deflected goal, and it was very much that.

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Houghton was then asked whether he thought the corner that set up the goal was indeed a corner, to which he responded: "No it wasn't a corner, and one thing that has been said is that Solly (March) felt he did touch it, what he did feel was a touch and that touch was Lukaku. 

"We've just see it again and Solly doesn't touch it, that was my thinking at the time, then when the linesman gave it then I presumed he was in a better position and he'd seen something we hadn't seen, but having seen it again it shouldn't have been a corner."

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Despite the two unlucky incidents with the corner and the deflected goal, Houghton insisted he was proud of his side, saying: "When you come away from home it's going to be tougher, and you certainly need the decisions to go your way fairly.

"Sometimes when the decisions go against you, you don't want it to benefit them because it makes the losing feeling even worse. But my overriding feeling today is very proud of a group of lads today that performed really well here."

Brighton have now dropped to ninth in the league, however will take a lot of confidence heading into their midweek clash against Crystal Palace at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday night.