Saturday 16 January 2016 20:28, UK
Brighton manager Chris Hughton was full of praise for his 'clever' striker Bobby Zamora, who celebrated his 35th birthday with the only goal in the 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win at Blackburn.
Zamora made the telling contribution three minutes in when he was on hand to convert after Jamie Murphy's rasping drive had been tipped onto the post.
After a quiet first half, both teams had chances in the second with Zamora seeing a lob drift just wide before Ben Marshall and Anthony Knockaert both rattled the woodwork.
Although quality was sometimes in short supply, it will not matter to Brighton - who ended an eight game wait for a win and a six-game goal drought that stretched 545 minutes.
And Hughton was delighted with the contribution of Zamora as his side moved back into the play-offs.
He said: "I think when Bobby's like that - and in the type of game it was going to be with the conditions and what he was up against - you need somebody like him who can hold the ball as well as he does, as clever as he is, and he has a little knack of being in the right place at the right time.
"He's been very clever and adjusted his game. When he's fully fit he's a handful but he's also a very clever player. He capped off a good day for him but more importantly, a good day for the team."
The win continued Brighton's fine run of form against Blackburn. They are unbeaten in eight against these opponents and Hughton was delighted at securing such a 'big win'.
He continued: "It's a big win for us today and we needed it, probably on the back of our most disappointing result against Rotherham.
"Apart from that, I can't fault the players' application. Some of the games we've lost, I didn't think we deserved to lose. But that's the Championship. What we did see is a really good reaction from Tuesday night."
The defeat for Blackburn is their first at home since October but they are currently in a worrying run of form and have failed to win in the last six games, losing four of them.
Rovers are now just five points away from the bottom three and Rovers manager Paul Lambert accepts his team have to improve from that performance.
He said: "I think the more you lose, that's (lack of confidence) the natural thing.
"It's when a goal goes in against us, it rocks us a bit and it shouldn't because we have so much time to retrieve the situation.
"Second half was a lot better. First half we started okay and with their first attack they scored. For 20 minutes after that we played too slow, passing the ball backwards and I don't want to see that type of football. I want to go forward. Second half as I said was more up and at them.
"We have to stop that, there's no two ways about it. For this club to improve and to have any chance, we have to be a lot better as a group and a team."
