Glenn Murray: There was never a lack of confidence in Brighton's squad

Striker Glenn Murray said there was never a lack of confidence in the Albion squad after they ended a five-game winless run with an extra-time victory at West Brom in the FA Cup on Wednesday.
Glenn Murray celebrates his second goal at West Brom with Gaetan Bong. Picture by PW Sporting PhotographyGlenn Murray celebrates his second goal at West Brom with Gaetan Bong. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Glenn Murray celebrates his second goal at West Brom with Gaetan Bong. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

Murray came on in extra-time and scored twice as the Seagulls progressed into the last 16 with a 3-1 win.

Kyle Bartley had put West Brom ahead after 77 minutes before Florin Andone equalised five minutes later.

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The Baggies went down to ten men in the additional period when Hal Robson-Kanu limped off after they had made all of their substitutions.

Murray put Brighton ahead from Jurgen Locadia’s cross on 104 minutes before he sealed the win with his 12th goal of the season from Davy Propper’s pass late on.

The Seagulls will now face Derby in the last 16 a week on Saturday, but that comes after a crucial Premier League clash with Burnley at the Amex tomorrow.

Only seven Premier League teams remain in the FA Cup this season but Murray says Brighton will be wary of Championship opponents Derby, who knocked Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup on penalties in September.

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He said: “There’s a lot of big teams out this year but we’ve got another tough team in the next round in Derby.

“I’ve seen a little bit of them on Friday nights in the Championship and they play an exciting brand of football with some very good young talent, so we’ll be very wary of them. We’ll give them our respect and do our homework on them but it’s every pro’s dream to get to a cup final, so you never know.”

Murray felt Brighton had been unfortunate during their five-game unbeaten run and said: “We’ve felt confident with the way we’re playing. We dominated the game on Saturday at home to Watford in the Premier League and felt we put a good display on.

“There was no lack of confidence. We’ve had some difficult fixtures throughout January and a few decisions and rubs of the green maybe didn’t go our way.

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“We feel as though we’ve been putting the performances in and tonight we got the win and hopefully we can go on and get some points on Saturday.”

On the win at the Hawthorns, Murray said: “I thought we played well for large periods. Unfortunately West Brom just got their noses in front and Flo saved us with a late goal.

“I felt watching from the sidelines that the game was nice and open and I felt there would be chances and thankfully they fell to me.”

Murray will come up against former team-mates Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes at the Amex tomorrow, with the game kicking off at 5.30pm.

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The trio fired Brighton to promotion from League One in the 2010-11 season and Murray said: “We forged quite a formidable partnership the three of us up front.

“They were only young at the time but they’ve gone on to have fantastic careers and Dunky will especially know what he’s up against because he was in the same squad.”

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