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Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Brighton: Carlos Carvalhal and Chris Hughton reaction

Sheffield Wednesday's Ross Wallace (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal
Image: Sheffield Wednesday's Ross Wallace (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal

Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal insisted his side can afford to take nothing for granted despite beating Brighton 2-0 in their Sky Bet Championship semi-final first leg at Hillsborough.

Goals from Ross Wallace and Kieran Lee have seen the Owls emerge as strong favourites ahead of the second leg on the south coast on Monday, but Carvalhal will guard against complacency.

Carvalhal said: "I think we did one of our best performances of the season tonight and if you exclude a moment when Brighton had a chance early on, I think we played really very well.

"We are happy about the game and the score but we know we have won absolutely nothing - we have the advantage but we must understand that we can't play thinking we are winning 2-0.

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Carlos Carvalhal was very happy after Sheffield Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Brighton in the Championship play-off semi-final

"The game will start at 0-0 and we will do our best to get a good result at Brighton. In these kinds of games we never feel like favourites. We have the advantage at the moment but we must play on Monday and see what will happen."

Brighton boss Chris Hughton fears none of the four players who were forced off through injury during the game will be fit for the second leg.

Tomer Hemed, Connor Goldson, Steve Sidwell and Anthony Knockaert all had to be taken off, forcing the Seagulls to play the final half hour with 10 men.

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Highlights of the Championship play-off semi-final between Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton at Hillsborough

Hughton said: "They were all substantial enough to go off and not one of them wanted to go off. At the moment I wouldn't be too optimistic about all four of them.

"I've never been involved in a game like that. We've gone through a decent period with injuries after a really tough period in the first half of the season, and whether it's the consistent games and the tempo we've had to play at in the last few weeks, I don't know."

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Brighton lost four players through injury as they lost 2-0 in their Championship play-off semi-final first leg to Sheffield Wednesday

However, Hughton insisted his side still stand a chance of turning the tie round in the second leg, and sought positives in the fact his 10 men restricted the hosts to only two goals.

Hughton added: "We have to be realistic enough to know it's going to be a tough task, but it is something that can be achieved.

"Once we went down to 10 men it could have been even more of an off-night for us but thankfully they didn't get the extra goals, and it gives us a chance."

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