Brighton 2-1 Brentford: Full backs breeze to top of player ratings
Brighton 2-1 Brentford turned into a display of attacking full back excellence with Pascal Gross and Jack Hinshelwood riding high as the top two in the player ratings.
Gross and Hinshelwood came to the fore after the Albion fell behind to a Bryan Mbeumo penalty midway through the first half.
Der Kaiser equalised with a pinpoint left footed strike placed into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. He then turned provider for what proved to be the winner 10 minutes after the interval, hanging up a cross to the far post headed powerfully home by Hinshelwood.
Minutes earlier and Hinshelwood have proven his worth at the other end, clearing off the line when Yoane Wissa looked set to put the Bees back in front.
It was a close run thing between the two full backs, but a goal and assist proved just about enough to edge Gross ahead of Hinshelwood by all of 0.12 points.
Here are your full Brighton 2-1 Brentford player ratings.
Jason Steele – 6.50
Brentford offered little as an attacking force and so this was a relatively quiet evening for the Man of Steele. Nothing he could do about the penalty placed expertly by Mbeumo into the bottom corner.
Jack Hinshelwood – 8.63
For all the praise Brighton have rightly received for the way they find and develop young players from around the world, an 18-year-old Sussex-born son of a former player and great nephew of a former manager bursting onto the scene is even more special. A night he will never forget and rightly left to a standing ovation.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.25
What he was thinking when pulling Vitaly Janelt to the ground in the box to gift Brentford their penalty? Generally solid otherwise and nearly made amends with a thumping header which was not far away.
Igor Julio – 8.25
Igor! Igor! Igor! Gets better and better with every game. Made a goal-saving block seconds before Hinshelwood denied Wissa to prevent Neal Maupay scoring and undoubtedly celebrating in excellent shithouse manner.
PASCAL GROSS – 8.75
Goal. Assist. Hardly wasted a pass. What is the German equivalent of a Rolls Royce player? Because that is what Gross is.
Carlos Baleba – 7.50
Dropped in between Igor and Van Hecke frequently, helping to form a back three and enabling Gross and Hinshelwood to be so positive charging forward. A midfield performance full of far more intelligence and discipline than most 19-year-olds would be capable of.
Billy Gilmour – 7.63
His best game for a number of weeks. Tireless in the middle of the park, crisp passing and another day might have caused the Bees to go down to 10 men when getting struck in the face by Wissa.
Simon Adingra – 6.25
His low score in the Brighton 2-1 Brentford ratings is possibly explained by Albion fans becoming accustomed to Adingra being so clinical. Not so here; he had an effort saved by Mark Flekken and then dribbled another wide.
Facundo Buonanotte – 6.25
Struggled to have the same impact as when he had been the best Albion player on the pitch in the 3-2 defeat at Chelsea. Almost set up a third Brighton goal when dispossessing Ben Mee.
Kaoru Mitoma – 7.75
A much better display justified Roberto De Zerbi’s decision to rest Mitoma at Stamford Bridge. Set his stall out with a couple of trademark dribbles in the opening 10 minutes. Set up Gross’ goal and had a huge role to play in the winner, feeding the ball into a gap from where Der Kaiser crossed for Hinshelwood.
Joao Pedro – 6.63
Couple of chances for the Albion’s leading scorer to add to his 10 goals so far but never really got hold of them.
James Milner – 6.63
Just like against AEK Athens a week ago, Milner came on and put his experience to good use in helping Brighton see out the victory.
Evan Ferguson – 5.88
Limited impact off the bench. Good news for Brentford; bad news for Burnley who will now face a more refreshed Ferguson at the weekend.
Joel Veltman – 6.50
Took over at right back from Hinshelwood. Had a relatively easy time of it with Brentford noticeably tiring in the closing stages.
Jakub Moder – 5.63
Received quite the reception on his first appearance at the Amex since rupturing his ACL in April 2022. Did not see much of the football as he sat wisely in front of the defence.
Benicio Baker-Boaitey – 5.50
More first time minutes for a Brighton Under 21s player De Zerbi clearly rates very highly.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
