United 0 Brighton 1

United boss Paul Buckle was in a positive mood despite the 1-0 loss to Brighton in the Third Round of the F.A. Cup: 'It isn't often after a defeat that I can say I am happy but it was always going to be a big ask to beat Brighton and I thought it was a very even contest and a draw would have been a fairer result. It was a good header to win the game but I felt we played very well in the conditions. The conditions weren't great for the two teams but the referee was first class about it, he spoke to us before the game and during the game and he wouldn't have been afraid to call the game off if it had become dangerous.

'We switched Wayne (Carlisle) and Jake (Thomson) over today and that was mainly because of Cox in the Brighton side who is a big threat for them and it would have been foolish of us to have ignored that and it worked well in the first half with Wayne cutting inside. I thought with and without the ball today we were very good but a set piece has cost us.

'I'm very pleased with our level of performance now, it is consistently high and I feel we have the nucleus of a new side with some bright young players. We have been linked with Dean Keats who is a very good player and we do need to strengthen in the middle of the pitch and he is someone we like, he is a good age and he's good on the ball but whether we can get him is another matter. There are other clubs interested so we will see what happens.

'Gus Poyet was very good about the pitch condition, we both wanted to play the game and get started but maybe the conditions won in the end because both teams were almost playing the conditions as well as each other.'