Brighton 2-2 Forest: Hinshelwood in midfield hits ratings top spot

When Jack Hinshelwood broke into the Albion first team last season, Roberto De Zerbi said he believed the teenager’s best position would eventually be as a midfielder. Something which our Brighton 2-2 Nottingham Forest player ratings back up.

Hinshelwood had started every game so far this season at full back prior to the Tricky Trees visiting. But with Yasin Ayari the latest central midfielder to be ruled out, Fabian Hurzeler had his hand forced and played Hinshelwood alongside Carlos Baleba.

The result was Hinshelwood getting on the scoresheet in a man-of-the-match performance. Good luck to Hurzeler trying to justify Hinshelwood reverting to left back now.

Other good individual performances were somewhat thin on the ground against Forest. Danny Welbeck and Jan Paul van Hecke were the only Brighton players to join Hinshelwood in scoring higher than a seven as the Seagulls looked ropey at the back and fashioned only three shots on target at the opposite end.

Here are your Brighton 2-2 Nottingham Forest player ratings from a frustrating Sunday afternoon at the Amex.

Bart Verbruggen – 6.62

Not much he could do about either of the goals as the Albion conceded a cheap penalty and then were caught out playing a high line.

Joel Veltman – 6.15

Very unusual to see Mr Dependable contributing to an opposition goal, as he did when playing the Tricky Trees onside for their second. Did his best to support Simon Adingra in an attacking sense.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.08

Superb cross into the box gave Van Hecke the assist for Hinshelwood’s header. That is the benefit of Brighton giving their defenders so much freedom to roam high up the pitch. The flip side was seen when Van Hecke was sucked into midfield by Chris Wood, leaving the Albion backline all over the place and creating space into which Forest broke to score the equaliser.

Lewis Dunk – 6.31

His lack of pace is being more exposed by opponents this season. Good on the ball and made some important interceptions.

Pervis Estupinan – 5.08

Woeful first half summed up by him cocking up a corner, running straight to the other side of the pitch to take a throw, and then cocking that up as well. Improved after the break although it would have been hard for him to get much worse.

Jack Hinshelwood – 7.54

There is always something quite special about seeing a homegrown Brighton fan scoring for the Albion. Especially when it is a goal of such quality.

Carlos Baleba – 6.38

After being the best player on the pitch against Ipswich and Wolves, this was a reminder that Baleba is still young and inconsistent. Clumsy and unnecessary challenge gifted Forest their penalty. He then had to be withdrawn by Hurzeler as the risk of another yellow card increased through the second half.

Simon Adingra – 5.23

Deserved his first Premier League start of the season after impressive cameos off the bench and strong performances in the League Cup. But he failed to make the most of the opportunity.

Georginio Rutter – 6.15

Showed a couple of contrasting sides to his game. A lovely through ball for Adingra after nine minutes highlighted his creativity. Fans of 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United often criticised his finishing ability and we saw that when he took way too many touches when he should have pulled the trigger from the edge of the box in the second half.

Kaoru Mitoma – 6.77

With Adingra ineffective down the right, Brighton really needed to get Mitoma more in the game than they managed. On the occasions they did, he looked dangerous – most notably when winning the foul from which Danny Welbeck equalised with a stunning free kick.

Danny Welbeck – 7.23

Welbz is Dat Guy. Put his set piece opportunity from 25 yards beyond the Forest wall and into the opposite corner as Matz Sels watched on helplessly. Roy Keane claimed Sels should be fined a week’s wages which was a bizarre reaction to a moment of magic from Welbeck.

Yankubu Minteh – 4.85

Even less effective than Adingra was down the right after taking over from the King of AFCON, meaning Minteh clocks the lowest score in the Brighton 2-2 Forest ratings.

Mats Wieffer – 5.62

Took over from Baleba in midfield. Made one important block shortly after coming on. Offered little in terms of trying to unlock the Tricky Trees defence and find the Albion a third goal.

Joao Pedro – 5.69

Victim of the unnecessarily forceful tackle from Morgan Gibbs-White which earned the Forest man a red card and sparked the bedlam leading to both Hurzeler and Nuno following down the tunnel. Survived that but appeared to pull up in injury time with a muscle problem and was struggling to move as the teams headed off after the final whistle. If it turns out to be serious, that is a big blow for Brighton.

Evan Ferguson – 5.00

No real time for the striker to make an impression.

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.