Kit Symons: Fulham caught by 'sucker-punch' in Brighton loss
Saturday 15 August 2015 22:11, UK
Fulham manager Kit Symons was critical of Shaun Hutchinson's late challenge that led to Brighton's match-winning penalty after seeing his side hit by what the Cottagers boss described as a "classic sucker-punch".
Fulham manager Kit Symons was critical of Shaun Hutchinson's late challenge that led to Brighton's match-winning penalty after seeing his side hit by what the Cottagers boss described as a "classic sucker-punch".
The hosts, having seen Tom Cairney cancel out Sam Baldock's opener for Brighton in the first half, were pushing for the victory in the closing stages but a foul by Hutchinson on Kazenga Lualua on the edge of the box saw the visitors awarded a stoppage-time penalty.
And Tomer Hemed tucked away the resulting kick, much to the frustration of Symons, who felt his side were the only ones who looked likely to win the game in the closing stages.
Symons had no complaints about the awarding of Brighton's match-winning penalty, but was less than impressed about Hutchinson's challenge.
He added: "I have seen the penalty back a few times and it's very difficult to call. Possibly the initial contact was just outside but he is travelling at pace and it's quite hard to tell even stopping and rewinding it back from a couple of different angles, it's hard to tell.
"I have no arguments with the award of the penalty but I have a few arguments with the defending that gave it away.
"It was a rash challenge absolutely. He (Hutchinson) thought the initial contact was outside. I'm not going to complain about the referee giving it but Hutch knows it was a rash challenge at that stage of the game."
Symons said Brighton's winner was a "classic sucker-punch" as Fulham were trying to get the win.
He said: "In the first half we were poor, they were the better team, we rode our luck and were lucky to go in at 1-1 but saying that we could have gone it at 2-1 because Matty (Smith) hit the post.
"We were much better in the second and were the only team who were going to win it. They made changes to shore it up and take a point but we got caught with a classic sucker-punch."
Brighton boss Chris Hughton also thought it was a penalty and felt the visitors deserved to pick up the three points for having the bravery to go for the win when Fulham were pushing hard.
He said: "My first impression was that it (the penalty) was in the box. The referee took a moment to think about it. We are not sure if he got guidance from the linesman or not but that was my first impression.
"I thought we deserved the win over the 90 minutes. We started the game very well but they have in the likes of (Jamie) O'Hara, Cairney and (Ross) McCormack, they have some players who can produce something. I was disappointed to go in at 1-1, I felt we were the better team first half.
"We came out again and it was difficult to sustain it for 90 minutes and they had a good period of pressure. We had to defend very well.
"I didn't see the winner coming to be honest. I have to applaud our team for having the bravery at that stage to go for that win. I'd made the changes before that to steady it up.
"We had come under a fair bit of pressure, particularly the ball into Smith, and probably at that stage we would have settled for a point. Fair play to my team, they were brave enough to go for it."
