Brighton issue Jan Paul van Hecke statement after horror collision led to emergency care

Brighton have confirmed that defender Jan Paul van Hecke has been discharged from hospital. Van Hecke, 24, needed oxygen and was put in a neck brace following a collision which happened late in away to on Saturday.

Having clashed in the air with Brentford midfielder Yunus Konak, Van Hecke initially sat up but medical staff quickly laid him back down after noticing that there was a problem. While Konak was able to later walk off the pitch, before he was stretchered off and replaced by January signing Eiran Cashin.

issued an update on Saturday night which read: "After being stretchered off at the end of today's game, Jan Paul van Hecke was taken to hospital as a precaution but has now been discharged and is on his way back to Brighton. Thank you to everyone who sent us your messages of concern and support for JP."

Asked for an update post-match, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler told Sussex: "No, I can't say anything about that at the moment. All we can say is that we hope that he will be back on the pitch as soon as possible. Hopefully he will have a good recovery."

Brentford boss added: "[Konyak] is good. I was more worried about Van Hecke. I hope he's well, we saw him, he looks okay, but I haven't spoken to him yet."

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Van Hecke started the match after serving a ban following his red card against earlier this month. The 24-year-old has made 35 appearances in all competitions this season and scored one goal.

His injury compounded a bad day at the office for Brighton, who've now gone six games without a win. The Seagulls found themselves 1-0 down after nine minutes before equalised in first-half stoppage time.

Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo grabbed his second goal of the game shortly after the break before strikes from Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard either side of what proved to be a consolation effort from Kaoru Mitoma. Between Brentford's third and fourth goals, Brighton striker Joao Pedro was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.

During the second half, the travelling Brighton fans chanted 'you don't know what you're doing' towards Hurzeler after he subbed off Welbeck while his side were chasing two goals. When asked what he thought about the chants, Hurzeler replied: "That's fine. They have their opinion. The team played well after that."

On Brighton's decline and fading European hopes, Hurzeler took accountability. "In the end I am responsible for that, I have to find the right solutions," the German, 32, added. "We know there are some things that aren't perfectly ongoing.

"We're struggling with availability, struggling with the connections on the pitch. We [make] too many individual mistakes. That's why I'm here, to find solutions."

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