United head coach David Hockaday has spoken of his disappointment after seeing his side loss 2-0 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

A goal in both halves for the away side saw them claim their first league victory of the season, and inflicted United’s first home defeat of the campaign.

“I thought they caught us cold in the first half,” said the head coach. “They played brave and we didn’t press together.

“Also when we got the ball we kept on giving it away. So that is a recipe for disaster. I was actually happy to go in at 1-0 at half time.

“In the second half we went brave and basically went man for man. It was more like it and we created a great chance and if we’d have put that away it would have been 1-1. I’d rather go down 2-0 than not go for it and settle for a 1-0 defeat.

“We left ourselves a little exposed at times by going man for man. I was disappointed with the first half but we gave it a go in the second. We had all the possession in the second half but other than that one chance we didn’t really create anything.”

After a poor first half performance the head coach changed his side at the break and after an improved display he says his side will keep learning.

“I know that they are a good footballing team and they are very awkward opponents,” said Hockaday. “In the last two seasons they have been in the Play-Offs, they are a top team.

“After their first two results they were in a corner and they came out fighting. In the first half I thought they were super. You have got to say well done to them.

“In the second half we stopped them playing and they didn’t look as good but we didn’t have the quality to punish them.

“We are going from match to match and we are putting the strongest team out that we can. We started with an eleven and I changed it at half time and that made a big difference to us.

“We are still a work in progress, I haven’t changed my mind on that. We were nowhere near the pace in the first half and we were a lot better in the second.

“It is going to be a roller-coaster ride this season and the players will keep learning.

“We didn’t really cause them any problems and when we did open them up with a superb move we didn’t put it in the back of the net. If that had of gone in we would have had our tails up and it would have been a different game.”