Brighton secure Premier League football after Huddersfield are held Last Updated: 17/04/17 7:30pm
Brighton can celebrate promotion to the Premier League after Huddersfield's failure to beat Derby County on Easter Monday. The Seagulls beat Wigan 2-1 earlier in the day and thousands of fans stuck around at the Amex Stadium to watch the tea-time game, which was broadcast live on Sky Sports. Huddersfield needed a win to keep a mathematical chance of promotion alive and they led in the ninth minute when Colin Quaner struck. That lead remained intact until two minutes from time when Jacob Butterfield equalised to send Brighton's fans into delirium.
They had earlier massed on the Amex Stadium pitch in celebration in the knowledge Huddersfield needed a miraculous turn around in goal difference to catch them.
But Butterfield's goal ensured a point for the Rams and meant Brighton are guaranteed to finish in the top two and play in the Premier League for the first time - their last season in England's top division came back in 1982-83.
And with Newcastle losing 3-1 at Ipswich, Brighton now only need one more win from their last three games to secure the title.
Boss Chris Hughton said: "It's a wonderful achievement and there's so many people that I'm absolutely delighted for, certainly the chairman [Tony Bloom]. He's a local man and has invested an incredible amount of money in this football club.
"I knew we had a group of lads that were capable of doing it, but being capable of doing it and actually doing it are two different things.
"They've been good all season. They've bounced back and shown good determination and desire to win as many games as possible.
"Right at this moment, this is the most exciting one [achievement]. I went up with Newcastle as a team that just came down, and although we'd lost players, I had a very strong team.
"This is a club that haven't been in the Premier League. This was a club that had been in the play-offs two years running before I got here, so it wasn't a club that was used to being at the bottom end of the division."
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10841549/brighton-secure-premier-league-football-after-huddersfield-are-held [ 此帖被羅力亞在2017-04-18 02:40重新編輯 ]
