Brighton and Hove Albion boss hails 'fantastic' Welbeck and influential March

Brighton earned their first Premier League win since Newcastle in September thanks to goals from Danny Welbeck (12) and Solly March (56) either side of Villa defender Ezri Konsa's finish (46).

There was late drama, too, after Tariq Lamptey was sent off for a late tackle on Jack Grealish which earned him a second yellow. And a 93rd minute VAR decision saw Michael Oliver waive away Villa's penalty claims following a suspect tackle from Solly March on Trezeguet.

Graham Potter said after the game: "Danny Welbeck was fantastic. It's clear he influenced the game well and took his goal well. He linked up with the team and was incredible out of possession.

"He defended when he had to and he brought his personality as well so I'm really pleased for him. That's his first full 90 minutes so there's definitely more to come from him. But he influenced the game really well and I'm delighted for him and the team.

"We defended well as a group. Our second was a really good team goal and a great finish by Solly March. I'm pleased for him because he influences games."

On the penalty decision, Potter said: "We've had a few against us so I'm not sure what is and what isn't a penalty these days. I know Solly touched the ball so we're just happy it went our way this time."

And on Lamptey's red card, Potter said: "I thought he was fantastic. I haven't seen the challenge back. I'm not sure if it was worthy of a yellow. Regardless of that he was incredible. We are very happy with him."

Match report

Brighton went ahead in the 12th minute through striker Danny Welbeck, which started from a Tariq Lamptey throwing deep inside Brighton's half.

The ball fell to Neal Maupay from the throw who, after exquisitely wriggling out of a tight space, laid the ball off to Adam Lallana. From there, Lallana released Danny Welbeck into acres of space in behind Aston Villa's high defensive line.

After running from inside his own half, beating the offside trap, Welbeck had the Aston Villa goal at his mercy and just had to keep his cool to beat Emi Martinez, which he did, in style, with a delightful chip over the top of the helpless goalkeeper.

Brighton could have gone 2-0 up in the space of a few minutes. Tariq Lamptey made a brilliant interception high up the pitch and, after making his way into the Villa box, played a low ball across the area to Welbeck, but the striker's heavy touch rolled into the hands of Martinez.

Aston Villa nearly levelled in the 19th minute. Ollie Watkins linked up well with Jack Grealish with a little one-two just inside the Brighton box, but the former Brentford man's touch let him down. The ball, however, ricocheted and caused chaos in the box, which saw Adam Webster make a great block to stop Villa from scoring.

Brighton went through one-on-one again with Martinez, this time through Maupay. The Frenchman was released in behind after Welbeck played a clever first time pass into space past the high Villa line. Martinez, however, won the 50/50 challenge and cleaned Maupay out with a heavy, but fair, tackle in the process.

The next two opportunities fell to Villa. A great in-swinging ball from a set-piece from Jack Grealish reached Tyrone Mings, who made bad connection with the ball but saw his effort nearly lob Mat Ryan. The Australian somehow made a great improvised save using his left foot to almost pass the ball off the line in the 38th minute.

Villa's next attack came from Grealish who, after making a good progressive run down the wing, squared the ball to Watkins running towards the six-yard box, but Ben White made an excellent slide tackle to extinguish the danger just before half time.

Dean Smith's men made the perfect start to the second half, equalising in the 46th minute through Ezri Konsa. Grealish's in-swinging free-kick from the edge of the Brighton box fell nicely to Konsa, who had an easy side-foot finish to make from six yards out.

Brighton came back fighting and ten minutes later went 2-1 up, this time through Solly March. After good combination play from Maupay and White on the edge of Villa's box, White slid the ball out to Pascal Gross on the wing. The German then played a low cross across the box, which rolled perfectly into the path of March, who calmly struck a right-footed effort into the top right-hand corner of Martinez' goal.

Lamptey was sent off in the 91st minute for a late tackle on Grealish, which won him a second yellow card from referee Michael Oliver.

More drama came in the dying moments when a late penalty shout for Villa went to VAR in the 93rd minute. After mounting pressure from Villa who were looking for an equaliser, Trezeguet looked to be brought down by a late tackle from March. After a few minutes deliberation from VAR, Michael Oliver went to the pitch side monitor himself and waived away the penalty claims.

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith said after the game: "I don't know what a penalty is now. We could all hear the contact inside the ground.

"If VAR thinks it's not a penalty then just tell the referee it's not a penalty. It wasn't given so we have to take it on the chin.

"I don't think we were bad. We missed chances and we've made big mistakes for their goals. We have to defend much better. Brighton were a threat on the counter but I wasn't overly concerned.

"I thought we had control of the game and if we had taken our chances we would have won."

A win sees Albion stay 16th on nine points but widen the gap with Fulham, who are in the relegation zone on four points with a game in hand.