Chris Hughton Believes Justice Was Done With Matt Ryan's Late Penalty Save During Draw With Stoke

Chris Houghton believes justice was done when Matt Ryan saved a late Charlie Adam penalty to help Brighton snatch a 1-1 draw with Stoke at the bet365 Stadium.

Stoke dominated the early possession, however it was Brighton who took the lead after neat interplay between Jose Izquierdo, Solly March and Dale Stephens found Izquierdo through on goal before he neatly tucked the ball past Jack Butland.

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Brighton were threatening to double their lead in the second half, however against the run of play a moment of individual brilliance from Xherdan Shaqiri which saw the Swiss international slot the ball beyond Matt Ryan from 18 yards out to equalise for the home side.

Both teams then threatened to grab a winning goal, and it looked as though Stoke were about to do just that when substitute Jese Rodriguez was brought down by Stephens in the box in the 88th minute of the game.

After a period of debate amongst the Stoke players as to who would take the spot kick, it was Adam who stepped up and had his penalty saved by Ryan, before a moment of heroic defending from Brighton eliminated the danger and snatched a point for the visitors.

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Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Houghton believes a draw was a fair result and admitted he believed the penalty was 'soft'. He said: "At the time I thought it was soft, but I was not sure and presumed I would come in here and see something different," he said.

"I still think it is incredibly soft, there are two players grappling each other and if anything Dale is almost pushing him off him. The lad goes down very, very easily and probably we feel a little bit of justice done with the save, which was a super save. And of course Lewis Dunk with some brilliant defending from that."

Despite drawing from a winning position, Houghton heaped the praise on his side performance throughout the game, adding: "We conceded a goal to a very good player in Shaqiri who has that type of quality on his left foot.

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"But I thought we were very good in that first half, it was very difficult though to sustain that for 90 minutes. But over 90 minutes, and even in that second half, I thought we had the better of the chances, we knew we were going to be under pressure at times, which we were, but we defended really well.

"But I do not think there is anybody who watched that game that would think we deserved anything less than a point. Testament to us as a team and a back four who were very resilient in what they do."

The draw means Brighton remain in 13th place and are now unbeaten in three successive league games for the first time since November, also sitting three points above Stoke. Houghton can take plenty of positives from his side's performance and will look to take the same confidence into Brighton's next game against Swansea on Saturday.