Hughton rues defensive failings as Albion slip up

But he did not feel a choice of formation – starting as 4-5-1 – was to blame for a 4-1 hammering.

The Seagulls were 3-0 down on the half-hour and, after Dale Stephens pulled one back, ended up well beaten as Peter Whttingham converted a penalty.

Hughton said: “Generally we have defended well but (today) we conceded what I regard as soft goals.

“That is not like us and it makes it very difficult.

“At 3-1 we were back in the game and had two good opportunities but I can’t have any complaints with that (scoreline).”

He added: “I always expected us to come back out in the second half and to put in a better performance. We had to do that because we conceded such poor goals in the first half.”

Chris Hughton watches the rainswept defeat

Hughton did not publicly hand out any personal blame for the first-half cave-in.

He said: “When you concede poor goals, sometimes it is down to individual errors “But it is very much a case of we score goals and we attack as a team and everybody takes the credit.

“When you concede goals, again it is as a team, make sure that you are blocking holes and the service does not go into players who can do cause damage to you.

“Defensively we had a tough afternoon. I thought they were quite lively and strong up front and caused us a lot of problems and we needed to deal with it better.”

Albion stuck with the 4-5-1 formation which secured a 0-0 draw at Hull in midweek before going 4-4-2 for the second period.

Anthony Pilkington makes it 2-0

Hughton said: “I don’t think that had an effect. We conceded poor goals and I don’t think that was down to tactics, formations, form or anything.

“We never gave ourselves an opportunity to get into the game.

“If we are 0-0 and not playing well enough or the opposition then become a threat, that’s the time you look at the formation and think possibly you can change it or “Should I have started that way?’ But the goals had a massive effect on the game.”