'Thin' squad sees Brighton exit the League Cup and 'prioritise the league'
Brighton manager Dario Vidošić said his side ‘lacked numbers’ in a ‘frustrating’ 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic.
The Broadfield fixture was the last of four League Cup matches for the Seagulls, with Dario Vidošić’s side placing second in Group C with six points.
Meanwhile group stage rivals West Ham recorded an impressive 5-0 victory over Southampton, securing their spot in the quarter-finals as Group C’s winners with nine points.
Brighton’s early exit from the League Cup will be a disappointing one, with the club reaching the quarter-final stage last season as opponents Arsenal proved 4-0 victors at Broadfield.
Following Charlton’s triumph on Wednesday evening, Brighton manager Vidošić explained how the club’s initial League Cup ambitions had altered due to injury concerns.
“At the start of the season speaking about the cup and from last season, we wanted to treat the competition as seriously as possible.
“Unfortunately that changed a little bit after the first game. After we played Portsmouth we had a fair bit of injuries to the forward line and a bit thin in the midfield as well.
“We’ve had to prioritise the league a little bit, rest players. Especially for today, we just really couldn’t afford it with the international break, games, then another international break. It’s a very heavy schedule.”
It was Mary Mcateer’s cross-cum-shot that proved the matchwinner for Charlton, with Vidošić saying on the goal and his side’s performance: “I thought we had enough, just unfortunate we didn’t do well enough on the cross.
“It has missed everyone and gone into the back of the net and for all of the dominance and territory that we had, we just lacked numbers.
“Even though we were there, it felt like we were never there in a way which was frustrating… We’ve got to be more clinical.”
A positive to draw from the defeat was the confident displays from Under-19s quartet Tahirah Heron, Elliana Martin, Emilie Gay and Evie Milner.
“It was a good opportunity for them,” said Vidošić.
“They’ll learn a lot from this which is really positive. So really good for the academy that is doing really well, and hopefully it’ll not be the last time that we see these girls.”