BOSS Chris Hughton says Albion’s below-par win at Wigan gave him as much satisfaction as a fluent victory.

The Seagulls were, by his own admission, “nowhere near our best” in Lancashire but Hughton’s second half double substitution paid off.

He brought on Dale Stephens and Jamie Murphy for Oliver Norwood and this season’s star man Anthony Knockaert – and Stephens struck the winner.

Hughton told The Argus: “I think you can gain as much for the team feel from not playing well away from home and winning as you can if you play really well.

“They are the ones that perhaps show you have got that little bit in the team that can fight against the elements. We probably got away with it a bit in the first half but we restricted them to minimal chances.

“You can gain an awful lot by being resilient away from home in what was not our best performance and get the win and showing the moment that counts, which was obviously Dale’s.”

Albion are now unbeaten in eight games, including six wins and six clean sheets.

Hughton is poised to fast-track injury-hit Solly March back into first team contention for the first time in ten months after he scored and played the whole game for the under-23s in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Stoke.

Hughton said: “I’ve heard he played 90 minutes and scored a cracking goal. That puts him very close to being involved.”