Steele praises Brighton's defence after victory at Bournemouth
Albion won 3-1 to reach the fourth round as Steele made his Brighton debut after joining from Sunderland in the summer.
It was his first game since May and afterwards Steele said: “It’s no disrespect to anyone I’ve played with before but it was brilliant to play behind a bunch of players that work so hard for each other.
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Hide Ad"The way they defended as a team, individually and collectively, was sensational. They do their own job and half of another job as well.
“We were under the cosh a lot in terms of ball possession, and the boys stuck at it with the two centre-halves and the full-backs stopping the crosses and picking up men.
"We limited their chances. Mousset missed a clear chance but that came after Duffers has flung his body in the way and it just fell for him. That sums us up.
“Personally, I was very excited to play again. This club has given me an awful lot in the last few months and I just wanted to show why I’ve been working hard. Thankfully it worked out for myself and the team today.”
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Hide AdSteele felt Florin Andone's goal to make it 3-1 was key in the victory, after West Ham had fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Brighton in the Premier League last Wednesday.
He said: "When you're 2-0 up away from home against an established Premier League team, they're not going to lie back and let you keep going and score more goals.
"Once they got the goal back after midweek, we could have thought 'here we go again' but the boys were different class and it was a pleasure to play in that team today.
"They were unbelievable out there. I can't thank them enough being a part of it and hopefully we can kick on.
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Hide Ad"A win, whether it is in the FA Cup, Premier League or whatever, is good momentum to have."
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