He said: "It was tough, as we expected. We know how Brighton play, they're one of the best sides in Europe with the ball.
"They dominate possession in most games, especially when you go 1-0 up so early you know the flow of the game will be them with the ball a lot. They put huge importance on it.
"They take risks, they're very good at it, the way they press man for man. They're desperate to have control of the ball and the game for as long as they can and they did.
"If we'd opened up the pitch, with them having an extra day (of rest) and the boys being as tired as they were, we'd have maybe come out on the wrong end. It was a conscious decision to make the pitch smaller and accept that Brighton would have more of the ball, to then punish them if there's a mistake.
"We scored an excellent goal and I didn't feel under massive threat. There was a couple of half scary moments, but we were organised, resolute and defended the goal excellently."