Cashin: Villa defeat a learning curve

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Defender reflects on first Albion appearance.

Nick Szczepanik

2025-04-04T07:00+01:00

The defender joined Albion from Derby County in January. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Eiran Cashin says that making his Premier League debut against Aston Villa on Wednesday as “a dream come true” but admitted that he still has a lot to learn. And the former Derby County defender described his move to the Albion in January as “an unbelievable step up.”

Eiran, 23, moved to the Amex on the final day of the transfer window for an undisclosed fee after making 121 starts for the Rams, mostly in League One and the Championship. But he had to wait until the 72nd minute of the Villa game for his first minutes at the top level, when he replaced skipper Lewis Dunk with the team 1-0 down.

What was it like when he was told he was going on? “It was a shock really,” he said. “It has been a while. At one time I didn’t think it was going to happen. It was nice to get out there. I enjoyed every minute of it. There are definitely things I thought I did well in the game and things I can definitely do better but, all in all, a real positive for me and a dream come true, really, to play in the Premier League.

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Albion's unbeaten league run comes to an end as Villa score three without reply at the Amex.

“I just tried to keep it as simple as possible, I tried to make the right passes, which I thought on the whole I did. It’s always difficult to come on as a defender, probably the worst position to be coming on as. You just have to make sure you do everything right, so in that sense it was tough, but I wanted my Premier League debut so I had no qualms coming on.”

He had previously faced Premier League opposition in cup ties, when Derby drew 0-0 at Anfield against a young Liverpool side in the EFL Cup in November 2022 before going out of the competition on penalties, and lost 2-0 at home to a far stronger West Ham United team in January 2023. But between joining the Albion and taking the field against Villa, he had only experienced the challenge of playing against top-level players in training.

But even that, he says, was an eye-opener. “Just day in, day out, the standards in training, every small detail matters and you can’t get away with not doing the small things. And that starts with the senior lads, with JP [van Hecke], all the lads, they drive the standard and I think you can see it out on the pitch. You make a small mistake and I got punished tonight but it’s a learning curve and I enjoyed it.

Eiran Cashin made his Premier League defeat in the defeat to Aston Villa. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

“It has been an unbelievable step up, a big step - I didn’t quite believe how big a step it is. The talent and the mindset and the mentality of some of these players is at a different level to what I’ve seen before. So I’m just trying to adapt to it, trying to learn every day. I think the coaches have been excellent with me and the players as well. I am one of those who work hard until I get it right so I’ve just got to keep working.”

And he was not completely surprised that it took over two months to get on the field. “I know that Brighton have a way that they like to do things and they’re one of the best in the world at developing young players and making them into what they want,” he said. “They explained that to me and I bought into it. There was no real time period that they put on that so in that sense no, but I knew it would be a process and I know it still will be a process.

“I didn’t come in here expecting to be the best player and start. I’m not that sort of player. I know I have to get into it, get into the graft and work hard, work my way up. That’s the way I’ve always done it and I knew that was going to be the same case here. I’m one of them that loves hard work, loves it when my back’s against the wall, so I’m just looking forward to doing all that.”