Brighton ended a six-match winless run with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over second-bottom Burnley on Saturday. Goals from Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari lifted the Seagulls to 14th in the Premier League, while Burnley remain six points adrift of safety after extending their winless run to 11 games.
Rutter broke the deadlock in the 29th minute, slamming home from a tight angle after Ayari's effort deflected off Charalampos Kostoulas. Ayari doubled the lead two minutes into the second half, capitalising on a Lesley Ugochukwu mistake to drill into the bottom-left corner. Burnley had chances, with Loum Tchaouna heading against the crossbar, but could not find a way past Bart Verbruggen.
Burnley manager Scott Parker was scathing in his assessment: 'We lacked belief and I didn't feel for one second that it was a team or group that ever believed they could come here and get a result. We looked at times powder puff. We just rolled over. If you perform like we did today, you ain't collecting enough points to stay in this division.'
Parker, who led Burnley to promotion last season, insisted he remains committed despite the slump. 'That's out of my hands. I have the utmost support from the ownership. We're all hurting but we'll keep going,' he said. Brightom head coach Fabian Hürzeler praised his side's resilience: 'The run wasn't great but we always stuck together. It was a good game, not a great game, but overall we are pleased.'
