Relieved Duffy hails Brighton fans for sticking by the team in Newcastle draw
The Albion players were roared on in the second half as they pushed for an equaliser having trailed through Ayoze Perez’s first half strike.
The players had been met with a chorus of boos heading into the dressing room at half-time after an abysmal first half display, but Pascal Gross’ header 15 minutes from the end secured a point for the home side.
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Hide AdIrish international Duffy was quick to point out the importance of the support, especially through the recent slump of form.
He said: “They’ve stuck with us and seen the dip that we’ve had and they’ve backed us. They’re that little extra lift even when we weren’t scoring but we were on top and they kept going and going.
“We’ve felt it all season and if they keep pushing us now hopefully we can reward them with another year in the Premier League.”
Albion’s poor run of form has seen them left scrapping with Cardiff for survival, but the Seagulls were given a boost before kick-off after the Bluebirds fell to a defeat at Fulham.
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Hide AdSpeaking on the recent run of form, Duffy said: “It has been tough. It’s not nice to be going through this. It’s not pretty but we’ve got to stick together and grind it out and that’s what we’re doing.
“We found out the (Cardiff) result before kick-off so maybe we were trying too hard. We just had to relax and get in at half-time, settle down and just play our game and the second half showed that.
“We played our game and got at them a little bit more. We changed our formation and Solly (March) came on and made a big difference and he lifted everyone on the pitch. We had chances to win but it’s another point towards safety.”
Albion stretched their advantage over Cardiff to four points with two games remaining, knowing that a win against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday will secure Premier League survival for another season.
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