How the Irish fared: Chris Hughton turns focus to play-offs

Chris Hughton has set his sights on play-off glory after his Brighton side fell agonisingly short in their bid for automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Hughton’s men went into Saturday’s promotion showdown with Middlesbrough knowing only victory would be enough to leapfrog the Teesiders into second.

They might have got it too had Dale Stephens not been sent off just four minutes after he had cancelled out Cristhian Stuani’s opener.

Instead, they will have to dust themselves down and prepare for a play-off semi-final clash against Sheffield Wednesday, the first leg of which takes place on Friday.

Hughton is confident his side will rise to the challenge.

“What we absolutely know is that we don’t have time to be too down,” he said.

“It is a distraught changing room but you want them to feel that way because you know what it means to them.

“We are still going into the play-offs on a good run. We’ve certainly surpassed all our expectations but at the moment we’re not thinking about what we’ve done so far, but what we can hopefully still do.

“We still have two more opportunities to do that and hopefully get to the final.”

While Boro and Brighton were slugging it out, a Burnley side that included Stephen Ward were busy clinching the Championship title, winning 3-0 at Charlton.

Elsewhere, David McGoldrick finished a frustrating season by scoring a penalty as Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich won 1-0 at a Derby side who will now face Hull in the play-offs.

It was a landmark day for Adam McDonnell as the former Shelbourne youngster made his Championship debut for the Tractor Boys.

Meanwhile, Anthony Pilkington scored in Cardiff City’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham while Lee Frecklington netted in Rotherham’s 5-1 defeat at Hull.

In League One, Conor Hourihane was among the scorers as Barnsley won 4-1 at champions Wigan to clinch the final play-off spot. Chris McCann saw red for the Latics. Barnsley’s victory meant Scunthorpe missed out on the play-offs despite Paddy Madden grabbing his 23th goal of the season in the 2-0 win at Sheffield United.

Gillingham went into yesterday’s final day still in with an outside chance of making the top six.

As events transpired even a victory wouldn’t have sufficed but, despite a goal from John Egan, Gillingham lost 2-1 at home to Millwall. Aidan O’Brien scored Millwall’s opener, his 13th of the season.

Anthony Forde scored twice as Walsall won 5-0 at Port Vale. However, Walsall missed out on automatic promotion after Burton drew 0-0 at Doncaster.

Meanwhile, Billy Clarke scored in Bradford’s 2-0 win over Chesterfield while Dave Mooney netted in Southend’s 3-2 defeat at Bury.

James Collins came off the bench to score as League Two champions Northampton finished their campaign by winning 2-1 at Portsmouth.

Elsewhere, Callum O’Dowda netted as runners-up Oxford United beat Wycombe 3-0 while Jamie Devitt grabbed the equaliser as Morecambe drew 1-1 with York City.