Cresswell: We didn’t react well after going behind

 

Aaron Cresswell bemoaned the reaction of his West Ham United side when they fell behind for the second time at Brighton and Hove Albion in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat.

Glenn Murray gave the Seagulls the lead early on at the Amex Stadium but the Hammers bounced back when Chicharito scored a superb solo effort, firing into the top corner after a clever run and dummy.

But Chris Hughton’s men were back in front through Jose Izquierdo’s stunner in the second half and David Moyes’ team failed to respond, instead conceding a third which was cleverly arrowed into the bottom corner by Pascal Gross.

And it was the reaction to falling behind once again that left full-back Cresswell so disappointed.

He said: “We came here hoping to get something and I don’t think we were good over the whole 90 minutes. We had a couple of spells in the game in the first half where we could have got something.

“But the lad [Izquierdo] put one in the top corner in the second half and to be fair to him, it’s a great finish, but we didn’t react well to that. We didn’t look like scoring in the second half.

We didn't react well [to going behind]. We didn't look like scoring in the second half

Aaron Cresswell

“We had a bad start but we had spells in the first half where we did well and had a few chances. We didn’t get the rub of the green though and second half we didn’t react to the set-backs we suffered.”

The result leaves the Hammers three points above the drop-zone on Saturday night – twelfth in the Premier League.

Cresswell admitted, given the nature of the bottom half of the division this season, every side is left looking over their shoulder after a defeat.

“It’s really tight down there in the Premier League – there are only a few points separating the bottom from the top ten,” he continued.

“You win one and lose the next week, and you’re right back in it. We have got to keep looking forward to the next game, though, and try to get the points in that.

“We need to stick together and pull in one direction now and go into every game and try to get maximum points. We need to keep pushing up.

“All season has been up and down and when you lose, you think you’re out of it. But we have to focus on each games as it comes and try to push up for the rest of the season.”