BRIGHTON: EVANS CALLS FOR BELIEF

BRIGHTON: EVANS CALLS FOR BELIEF

The head coach previews Monday's trip to Brighton...

Steve Evans wants his United side to enter Monday night’s trip to Brighton with the belief they can take all three points from the Championship promotion-chasers.

Prior to the weekend’s fixtures, Brighton occupied fourth place in the league table on the back of a run which has seen them win five of their last seven outings, including Tuesday's midweek 4-0 win away to Bristol City.

But Evans says United, who are looking to pick up a first league victory in five games, must approach the Amex Stadium clash in a positive manner on the back of encouraging draws with Fulham and Middlesbrough.

“We’ve got to believe we can go there and win - we’re going there to try and win,” the head coach said.

“We’re not going to go there and put 11 men behind the ball.

“The Amex is a wonderful stadium and they've got some fantastic supporters – there’ll be a big crowd there on Monday night.

“But the Leeds United fans will be heard and they get even louder when we’re winning, like we’ve seen at Bolton and other places this season.

“We need them right behind us – they’re fantastic and I cannot applaud them any more than I do on a daily basis.”

Despite a flying first half of the campaign, which saw the Seagulls establish themselves as the division’s early pace setters, Chris Hughton’s side suffered a dip in form over the Christmas period but have since managed to re-discover their momentum to put their promotion charge back on track.

“It’s credit to the manager Chris Hughton and his assistant Colin Calderwood,” said Evans. “I think they lost just once all season in the run up to Christmas.

“They won a lot of games by just the odd goal and they looked sensational in their play.

“Then they hit a wall, and that happens. They probably wondered where the next performance, lucky goal or something positive was going to come from.

“Then they got back on track – I think they’ve had five wins from seven.

“I watched the full re-run of their 4-0 win at Bristol City. Bristol City have had some good results of late but Brighton could have won eight or nine.

“Their performance was that convincing and that good. I know Chris will have taken more satisfaction from that performance and that win than he will have done all season.”

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