Saturday 22 August 2015 19:38, UK
Brighton boss Chris Hughton admitted the most pleasing aspect of his side's 1-0 home victory over Blackburn Rovers was that they maintained their unbeaten start to the season without playing particularly well.
Kazenga LuaLua's third goal of the season 10 minutes before the interval was enough to give the Seagulls their third win in four games before a crowd of 22,659 at the Amex Stadium.
Albion survived some uncertain moments as winless Rovers failed to take advantage of a series of chances, but Hughton felt the result was the all-important thing.
The former Birmingham, Newcastle and Norwich chief said: "We were not at our best but our defence was strong and resilient.
"Our keeper (David Stockdale) pulled off some really important saves and at this moment we are doing okay.
"The encouraging thing is that, although we didn't play particularly well, we are winning games. We were not at our best on a hot afternoon."
Hughton is unwilling to talk up the Seagulls' promotion prospects until the end of the transfer window, but is delighted that his club have rejected recent offers for central defender Lewis Dunk and midfielder Dale Stephens from Championship rivals Fulham and Derby respectfully.
Asked whether Brighton can mount a serious promotion challenge, Hughton replied: "I don't know. We've started well. We'd rather be at this end of the table than the other.
"Some teams are spending very big and by the end of the window we will have a better idea."
Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer felt his men were desperately unfortunate not to take something from the game and reckoned they should have been "out of sight" by 25 minutes.
Rovers have yet to win any of their opening five league and cup games but Bowyer says he is taking great encouragement from the manner of their performance at the Amex Stadium.
He said: "It's a difficult place to come to and Chris has done a great job with his recruitment, but we should have been 2-0 up after 20 minutes.
"We created a lot of chances and should have been out of sight after 25 minutes. Their keeper made two great saves.
"Going 1-0 down was harsh on us but we stuck at it and never stopped. We should have taken something away from here."
Striker Tom Lawrence, on loan from Leicester, was drafted in for his Rovers debut having been snapped up as the club's seventh summer signing, and Bowyer stresses that his team are very much a work in progress.
Rovers also had to do without striker Jordan Rhodes, who, for the first time in his Blackburn career, missed two league games running, due to an ankle injury.
The Blackburn boss added: "Players have been arriving on a daily basis but the encouraging thing is that we are still creating a lot of chances.
"Rhodes will be whetting his lips at the thought of getting on the end of those chances when he comes back.
"We will 100 per cent take positives from this. We weren't played off the park and we will only improve and get better."
