Brighton player ratings vs Luton Town as class acts score 8/10 with several 7s but one 6

Goals from Solly March, Joao Pedro, Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson secured the three points.

Brighton made a confident start with Lewis Dunk going close with a header from an inch perfect Mahmoud Dahoud cross.

Joao Pedro had an even better chance to open the scoring – and grab a debut goal – but he somehow manged to scuff his effort wide when he had the goal at his mercy after a cutback by Pascal Gross.

Brighton kept knocking on the door, with a mixture of speculative shots and half-chances but Luton held firm. That was until a defence-splitting pass by Mahmoud Dahoud gave Kaoru Mitoma some rare space and he took advantage with a perfect cross to Solly March, who made no mistake with his header into the net.

After Jason Steele made a crucial save at the other end, Welbeck struck the Luton post.

Welbeck then went close again – and should have scored – when he was found in the six yard box by Mitoma after a defensive mistake.

Luton stuck with the same game plan of frustrating Albion and looking to hit the hosts on the break. There were one or two nervy moments in the second half but Pedro scored a debut goal from the spot to give Brighton a two-goal cushion, with 20 minutes remaining. The Brazilian won the penalty himself after some clever forward play but there was a suggestion he went down too easily.

Luton didn’t give up there, though, and won their own controversial penalty when Lewis Dunk was adjudged to have handled in the box. A VAR check confirmed the decision. Carl Morris calmly slotted the ball past Steele to half the deficit.

However, any hope of a comeback was extinguished when substitute Simon Adingra capitalised on a defensive mistake and scored his first Brighton goal in his first competitive appearance for the club.

Suddenly, Brighton were playing with freedom with time and space to attack at will and nearly made it 4-1 when another substitute Evan Ferguson fired the post with a superb curling effort that deserved a goal.

The teenager didn’t have to wait long for his first goal of the season, though, as he slid in at the back post in injury-time to add the cherry on top of the cake for Brighton.