Georginio Rutter makes most of starting chance as he shines in Brighton victory

Georginio Rutter got Brighton’s Conference League campaign off to a flying start and sent a message to boss Fabian Hurzeler.

Rutter has lost his place to teenage hot-shot Charalampos Kostoulas in the Albion team, and was making his first start since the opening day of the season against Lithuanian champions Kauno Zalgiris.

The French forward responded by scoring twice and creating another as Brighton cruised to a 4-0 victory at the Amex Stadium, with Jack Hinshelwood and Matt O’Riley also on target..

Baltic minnows Zalgiris were making their debut in the league stage of any European competition.

They had dropped down from both the Champions League and Europa League play-offs before eventually landing in the Conference League.

Hurzeler made eight changes from Brighton’s last Premier League match, Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sunderland, with only Bart Verbruggen, Olivier Boscagli and Pascal Gross keeping their places.

The hosts were full of confidence after four straight wins in all competitions, including victories over Arsenal and Manchester United, and Joao Costinha flashed a header over in the opening moments before a whipped Gross free-kick stung the palms of Zalgaris goalkeeper Tomas Svedkauskas.

Brighton were dominant but were given a warning when Franco Baldassarra fashioned a shooting opportunity, only to drag his effort across goal and wide.

Seagulls captain Lewis Dunk then strode forward and fired over from 20 yards before Svedkauskas palmed Hinshelwood’s downward header over the crossbar.

Ibrahim Osman was next to try his luck with an acrobatic turn and shot which flew too high, before Brighton’s pressure finally told five minutes before half-time.

Ghana wideman Osman raced to the byline and pulled the ball back for Rutter to sidefoot home from 10 yards.

The goal was initially disallowed due to the ball appearing to be out of play before Osman cut it back, but a VAR check showed it had stayed in.

Brighton doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time with a carbon-copy goal, Rutter this time pulling back for Hinshelwood – making his first appearance since August after an ankle injury – to finish into the far corner.

Svedkauskas kept out another Hinshelwood header just after the break before the Seagulls, who reached the last 16 of the Europa League in 2023/24, grabbed a third.

Malick Yalcouye’s superb through-ball sent Osman clear and he squared for Rutter to roll home his second of the night.

O’Riley grabbed the fourth, moments after he had hit a post, when he headed home a cross from substitute and debutant Younes Ibrahim to wrap up a fine European evening’s work on the south coast.