Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton has claimed that relinquishing a 2-0 lead against Queens Park Rangers is 'tough to take'.

The unbeaten side were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw on Tuesday night at Loftus Road.

Charlie Austin nabbed a brace as he cancelled out strikes from Dale Stephens and Rajiv van La Parra, and it went from bad to worse for the Seagulls as Lewis Dunk was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute.

"It's a tough one to take when you're leading 2-0 - you want to see the game out," Hughton told Sky Sports News. "After the sending-off, a big powerful side, we knew they'd cause us problems. It was whether we could hold out and perhaps catch them on the counter, which I thought we were going to do."

Brighton are now 21 games unbeaten in the Championship, but they have slipped to second in the table.