Chris Hughton said Albion were beaten by the better side as their long undefeated run ended at Preston.

But the Albion manager also felt his team failed to make the most of some good attacking positions in the final quarter of a 2-0 defeat.

Albion had gone 18 games without losing but were undone by Paul Huntington’s goal from a Paul Gallagher free-kick and Callum Robinson's superbly taken second-half breakaway.

Hughton said: “I thought we were beaten by the better side today.”

“The manner and timing of the first goal didn’t do us any favours.

“They are very good on set plays and Gallagher’s delivery is as good as anybody in the division. But that is something we knew.

“In a frantic period, we gave away too many free-kicks.

“But normally in this type of game, if we don’t start so well, we can feel our way into the game and give ourselves a really good opportunity.

“It probably took us too long to do that.

“Of course once you 2-0 down, it’s an uphill battle.

“We had good moments or got in good positions in that final 20, 25 minutes.

“But they defended very well. They had to but they defended very well.

“You have got to give them credit, one for their overall performance but also defensively I thought they were very good.”