Norwich 0-4 Brighton: Rutter tops ratings with FA Cup double

There were so many good performances and stories to come out of Norwich City 0-4 Brighton that it is no surprise the trip to Carrow Road gives us the highest scoring set of Albion player ratings for many weeks.

Georginio Rutter takes star billing for his two first half goals which set the Seagulls on their way to a comfortable success and place in round four of the FA Cup.

Not far behind him come the likes of Julio Enciso for ending a 20 month drought. Yasin Ayari ran the midfield show.

And then you have Solly March, scoring with the first touch of only his second appearance back after a career threatening ACL injury which required two knee surgeries and left him on the shelf for 14 months.

Nine of the Albion starting XI at Norwich scored more than seven. Fabian Hurzeler was deserving of a high mark too for naming his strongest possible line up.

The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History stayed true to his word in taking the FA Cup seriously, showing the world’s greatest cup competition the respect it deserves.

Here are your Norwich 0-4 Brighton player ratings.

Jason Steele – 7.25

A relatively straightforward clean sheet for the Albion captain at Carrow Road. Was lovely to see him charge forward and celebrate March’s goal with the rest of the team.

Joel Veltman – 7.50

Momentarily became a Dutch version of David Beckham with the magnificent sweeping cross delivered straight onto the head of Rutter for opener.

Adam Webster – 7.25

Got through 70 minutes unscathed on his first start since October. Given Webster normally takes a handful of games to play himself back into form after any sort of absence, this was a very useful game in which to shake some of that rust.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.25

Norwich offered very little threat bar a decent opening 15 minute spell. An easy afternoon therefore for Van Hecke, who took the opportunity to showcase his passing range.

Pervis Estupinan – 6.75

Not as prominent as you would expect a player of his quality to be against Championship opposition. Probably not helped by the Albion tending to focus most of their attacks down the right flank. Tellingly, Kaoru Mitoma was the other starter to score under a seven in the Norwich 0-4 Brighton ratings.

Carlos Baleba – 7.25

Started the game looking like he felt he only needed to turn up to win the midfield battle. But once Amankwah Forson hit the post and Baleba realised Norwich had the ability to cause Brighton problems, he stepped his performance up to third gear which led to Brighton getting and staying on top.

Yasin Ayari – 7.88

Whilst Baleba cruised through the game by-and-large, Ayari used it as a means to put forward his case for being ahead of Matt O’Riley and Mats Wieffer in the pecking order. It ended up being a case well made as the young Swede was superb in the middle of the park.

Yankubu Minteh – 7.38

The extra time afforded by Championship defenders meant Minteh got a lot of his decision making right; something which has been a bit of a bugbear in the Premier League so far. His assist for Rutter’s second goal was delightful as he came in from the right, seized possession in midfield and ran straight at the Canaries back line before slipping a pass to the Albion’s £40 million man.

Julio Enciso – 7.50

Made and converted the third Brighton goal single-handedly with a relentless press to gain the ball and a clinical, accurate finish from a tight angle. An important moment for confidence – but even more so if it teaches Enciso he does not need to twat the ball as hard as possible from 30 yards to score. Precision is better than power.

Kaoru Mitoma – 6.38

Like Estupinan, suffered by Brighton attacking far more down the right than the left.

GEORGINIO RUTTER – 8.63

Two high-quality finishes which could not have come at a better time, 48 hours after Joao Pedro required an MRI scan on an ankle twisted in training. The first was the sort of powerful header a traditional British target man would be proud of and the second required great tenacity to fire home despite an impending clattering from a home defender.

Brajan Gruda – 6.63

Came off the bench to claim a first assist in English football with the pass to set up March for the fairy tale fourth goal.

Danny Welbeck – 6.00

Limited impact in terms of what he did with the ball. But Welbeck had the awareness to know he would be flagged offside if he touched Gruda’s pass, instead leaving it for March to fire into the top corner.

Ruairi McConville – 7.00

An Albion debut for the highly-rated Northern Irish defender. Looked very Van Hecke like in the way he was so calm on the ball and picked his passes.

Solly March – 7.63

Wow. Just wow. What a moment for March to score after everything he has been through. Hurzeler spoke for everyone when he said he had goosebumps from it.

Jakub Moder – 6.13

Interesting to see Hurzeler introduce Moder at right back. He stands little chance of starting games in midfield for Brighton given the strength in depth there, but could provided an intriguing option at full back in an area where the squad currently looks a little thin.

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.