Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl cut a frustrated figure after his side were held to a 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion.

And the Austrian didn't hide his disappointment towards goalkeeper Alex McCarthy after the goalkeeper stayed on the pitch despite picking up an injury.

Neal Maupay turned home a 98th-minute equaliser for the Seagulls after the ball was floated into the box following a blocked free-kick.

McCarthy 'must be more professional'

Hasenhuttl said he would have replaced McCarthy for the set-piece if he knew the extent of his hamstring problem.

"Alex must be definitely more professional than that," he told the media after the game.

Maupay was crucially played onside by James Ward-Prowse, with Hasenhuttl saying his captain had raced back to cover McCarthy's left-hand post from Jakub Moder's free-kick because the goalkeeper feared he was not mobile enough to protect the entire goal.

"If you have a goalkeeper that is not 100% fit in that moment and cannot jump and then you send someone back into the line, then the rebound that comes out is normally offside," the Saints boss added.

"But Prowsey's there, so he has a free shot at goal. This is something we cannot accept. There must be a message, 'I cannot jump', and then we can make a change.

"Today I had one change [left] and I couldn't take it because he didn't say anything and this, for me, is not acceptable.

Embed from Getty Images

'Hard to accept'

“I think it is ok when we sometimes concede a goal – we have had three 1-0 wins at home – but the way we conceded is hard to accept, because it was definitely easy to defend this situation.

“We had another sub to do. Raise the arm and you can be changed or subbed, and if not you have to be able to defend your goal alone, not with your No 6 needed on the line.

“We dropped him (Ward-Prowse), and then the rebound is not offside, and that’s the reason why he scores. This is very, very hard to take.”

Maupay's goal came in the eighth of ten extra minutes and cancelled out Armando Broja's brilliantly-taken first-half goal that looked to be enough to give Saints victory on the eve of Hasenhuttl's third anniversary in charge of the club.

'Frustrating'

“It’s a pity that we have to speak about the result, and cannot speak about what we have done for 95 minutes before, because I think it was a very good game from our side,” Hasenhüttl reflected.

“As always, football is a game of results and we didn’t take the result that we should take today. This is what is hard to accept, and what is really frustrating.

“I think they had one big chance in the second half and one in the first half. We had a lot, so this is frustrating, but this is football.

“I saw a very, very good, organised team today, against a strong side, but it’s a pity that in the end we don’t take the three points.”