Joel Veltman believes Albion have come a long way since last season.

And their rection to a 1-1 draw versus Newcastle proves that.

Veltman was at right-back for a Seagulls side pegged back by Isaac Hayden after Leandro Trossard’s opener from the spot.

Albion could have spent Saturday night in fifth place.

They instead go into the final international fortnight of 2021 with 17 points from 11 games.

Veltman was asked for his reaction and said: “Most of all, it’s disappointment.

“You play a good first half, I think, but not a good second half.

“They were smelling they could get something out of it.

“It’s still 1-0 for us. They didn’t create really big chances but one set-piece was enough for them.

“If you are going that high you have expectations.

“We want to go higher as well and keep the level up.

“With 17 points before the start (of the season) we could say ‘Great start’ and now we are a little bit disappointed so that’s strange.

“But it’s also nice to see we are disappointed with 17 points.”

Veltman was critical of Albion’s display.

He said: “We were a little bit sloppy sometimes when we could just pass easily and we gave them hope.

“When you make it 2-0, it’s a totally different game.

“But it was still 1-0, sloppy passing and that was not good from our side.

“They were pressing a little higher I think in the second half.

“But still they were waiting for our mistakes and that’s what they did great, I think.”

Veltman will not be a part of the Holland squad over the forthcoming two weeks.

He is happy to take some time to rest ahead of s busy schedule.

Head coach Graham Potter confirmed on Saturday his players not on international duty would be given some time to recuperate and be with their families.

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Veltman said: “The plan for us is now to take some rest, take some days off and I think we go again next week.

“You were saying about the programme coming up.

“It will be a busy one so take some days off, don’t think about football any more and next week we keep fighting again.”

Goalscorer Trossard struck a similar theme to Veltman.

He said: “If you had said at the start of the season that we would have had 17 points at this moment, everyone would sign up for that.

“It is a good feeling as well, maybe not from today but in general the environment is good and everybody believes that we can achieve something this season.

“We need to keep working and believing and maybe we can achieve something nice. I think we have a really good squad. Everyone is on their toes, everyone can play, and everyone knows that.

“There is healthy competition. That is why we are up there. We support each other as well and that is how a team needs to perform.”

Trossard will take some convincing that 1-1 was a fair result.

Asked his reaction, he replied: “Maybe if you see the last 30 minutes it was a fair result.

“But I think we could have been 2-0 up at half-time and then it is a bit easier for us.

“They then need to do come on more and then maybe you can do something on the counter but that didn’t happen and we need to work on that.”