Brighton vs Wolves player ratings: Assist king scores 9/10 and Carlos Baleba progress
How the Seagulls rated against Wolves at the Amex Stadium
Brighton gave their European hopes a huge boost with a 3-0 win against relegated Wolves.
The Seagulls opened the scoring with their fastest ever Premier League goal. Maxim De Cuyper - making his first start since February - provided a lovely cross and Jack Hinshelwood rose highest to thump home a header in the 36th second. It was Hinshelwood's third goal in three matches.
Four minutes later and it was 2-0. De Cuyper claimed his second assist in five minutes as his corner found an unmarked Lewis Dunk and the captain nodded home.
Dunk, starting his first match since the home win against Liverpool, had a further header that just missed the target and the lively Kaoru Mitoma fired narrowly wide as his effort found the side-netting.
Wolves improved in the second half and hit the woodwork twice through Hwang Hee-Chan and Cristhian Mosquera.
But Albion finally added a third as Yankuba Minteh cut in the the left and powered a left footed finish beyond Bentley. It was all quite comfortable for Brighton and they move up to seventh in the table.
Brighton player ratings
Bart Verbruggen - 7: Kept a clean sheet. Just! Relieved to see Mosquera's and Hwang's effort hit the woodwork after the break.
Ferdi Kadioglu - 8: A seamless switch to right back for the Turkey international and then reverted to his usual left back role after the injury to Mitoma.
Jan Paul van Hecke - 6: The Dutchman was caught the wrong side of Hwang as the Korean fired against the post but otherwise a pretty comfortable afternoon for the centre back
Lewis Dunk - 7: Nodded home the second and his first goal of the season. Solid display against a limited Wolves attack and good distribution. Some of his long range passing to Mitoma was excellent.
Maxim De Cuyper - 9: His first start since February and two assists in the first five minutes. Lovely cross from the opening goal and then ted-up Dunk's header.
Carlos Baleba - 8: Another solid performance from the midfielder. That's three games in a row where he's played quite well. Progress!
Pascal Gross - 7: The German has made such an impact following his return to the club. Measured and efficient in midfield once again and always a danger from set-pieces.
Yankuba Minteh - 8: The Gambian flyer scored his third goal of the season with a powerful second half finish. It will do his confidence the world of cgood after a patchy display at Newcastle.
Jack Hinshelwood - 8: Thumping header to open the scoring on 36 seconds. Looks at ease in the No 10 role.
Kaoru Mitoma - 7: Lively early on and fed the ball through to De Cuyper for the opening goal. Also saw his new post effort hit the side netting. A worrying sight as he limped off on 56 minutes with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Danny Welbeck - 6: Saw his 20th minute header from Minteh's cross saved by Bentley. The veteran striker didn’t add to his 12-goal tally and was replaced by Georginio on 76 minutes.
Substitutions: Veltman 6-10 (Mitoma, 58), Georginio 6-10, (Welbeck, 76), Ayari 6-10 (Baleba, 76), Kostoulas 6-10 (Hinshelwood, 88).