Brighton & HA 0 Huddersfield Town 0: Huddersfield end run of defeats as Robins happy with stalemate

Huddersfield's Adam Clayton (right) is challenged by Brighton's Adam El-Abd

He said: “Brighton is a very difficult place to come and play and there’s no doubt we were up against a top team in this division.

“Along with Derby, they are the form team and having lost 4-1 on our last visit I’m delighted with a point this time.

“It’s a great pitch and a great stadium but we did not capitulate.

“Barnes had a couple of chances for them, but there were not loads of chances in the match, although we tried to make a game of it.”

Robins is taking positives from his belief that his side is a lot tougher a proposition compared to last season.

He explained: “We are a work in progress and we have got to try to be economical. We’ve got to try to maximise what we have.

“There is more to come from the youngsters but I’m pleased with the way it’s going.

“The owner has been absolutely magnificent and the town is getting behind the team.”

Brighton head coach Oscar Garcia admitted his play-off chasing side need to improve their home form after the Seagulls’ bid for a third successive win was snuffed out by Huddersfield in a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.

Albion’s indifferent form on home turf has seen them drop 12 points out of the last 21 at the Amex and Garcia sees that as a problem.

He said: “This is one of the things we have to improve.

“We played really well in this game and the only thing we needed was to put the ball in the net.

“On the positive side we have played well away from home and got some good results. Sometimes we play better at home but the results don’t show it. We need to do everything to win games and I am happy with the performance: we played really well.”

Garcia refused to be critical of striker Ashley Barnes for missing two chances shortly after the break and explained that he gave a starting berth to Will Buckley ahead of Kazenga LuaLua due to the former’s greater fitness levels.

He added: “I went with Will Buckley as he can play 90 minutes and LuaLua is not fit enough to play 90 minutes at the moment and we have a lot of games coming up.”

Brighton: Brezovan, Saltor, El-Abd, Upson, Ward, Ince, Bridcutt, Agustien (LuaLua 65), Lopez, Barnes, Buckley (Ulloa 78). Unused substitutes: Andrews, Dunk, Crofts, Calderon, Kuszczak.

Huddersfield: Smithies, Smith, Gerrard, Wallace, Hammill (Woods 82), Gobern, Norwood, Clayton (Holmes 60), Dixon, Paterson (Ward 59), Vaughan. Unused substitutes: Scannell, Bennett, Stead, Southern.

Referee: J Adcock (Nottinghamshire).

Man of the match: Alex Smithies.