West Ham United loss at Brighton & Hove Albion 'hard to take'

Having overturned a first-half deficit, the Hammers had looked to be heading to their first win in seven games, before the Seagulls swooped to steal a 3-2 victory with two late, late goals.

It was a bitter blow for disheartened head coach Potter, who had also seen his side pegged back in stoppage-time against relegated Southampton just seven days earlier.

Making a trio of changes for the tricky trip back to his former club, Potter recalled Tomáš Souček, Konstantinos Mavropanos and fit-again Aaron Wan-Bissaka in place of substitutes Carlos Soler, Vladimír Coufal and Niclas Füllkrug, who had pulled no punches with his forthright post-match comments following that dismal draw with the Saints.

“Niclas wasn’t left out on the basis of that interview,” insisted Potter, whose side soon came in for criticism from their own travelling Claret and Blue army after Swedish striker Yasin Ayari put Brighton ahead on 13 minutes with an unstoppable 25-yard curler.

“But, yes, the fans are entitled to sing whatever they want. That’s all there is to say.”

After sitting on the bench throughout the first half, the giant German was, however, called into action for the restart and, within four minutes West Ham drew level when Mohammed Kudus slotted home Jarrod Bowen’s clever cut-back to claim his fourth goal of the campaign.

The Hammers skipper also turned provider once more on 83 minutes, when Souček – who had nodded onto the bar before the break – met Bowen’s inviting cross with a powerful diving header to take his tally to eight for the season.

But just as the visitors seemed all set for a long-overdue victory, substitute Kaoru Mitoma nodded Brighton level with only a few seconds of normal time remaining before Carlos Baleba broke Hammers hearts in the closing moments with another spectacular, curling long-ranger.

“There’s a demand to be physically fit and stay mentally strong to see out a winning position but we just weren’t able to do that,” fumed the inconsolable, incandescent Potter after seeing three points simply evaporate into the Sussex seaside air.

“You’ll always find yourselves playing good teams in the Premier League and you need to be able to sustain things when you’re in front but it’s getting to the point where there’s probably a psychological fear now.

“We did a lot of things well in the game but it’s no good talking about the positives today because I can’t take any solace from those because we lost. The lads are devastated and the pain’s hard to take.

“I may be speaking calmly but inside it’s really hurting because I’m a human being and am very frustrated.”

Ipswich Town’s defeat at Newcastle United did, at least, make the 17th-placed Hammers mathematically safe from any unlikely, late relegation scenarios as they go into their final four games of an imminently, instantly forgettable campaign.

“In terms of our season we’re in a bad situation,” conceded Potter ahead of Sunday’s crunch clash with Tottenham Hotspur at London Stadium (2pm).

“All we can do is stick together over these next four weeks because we have a lot of work to do.”