Norwich City chief Alex Neil can count on the full support of the man who inflicted his worst day in management.

Chris Hughton plotted his old club's downfall in a thumping 5-0 Championship win that kept Brighton firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion.

Hughton was dismissed towards the end of the Canaries' Premier League relegation campaign in 2014 but the experienced boss insists Neil will come through a testing spell.

'You have to remember Alex has managed Norwich in the Premier League, which is the toughest place to work,' he said. 'As a manager you get used to the highs and lows. You don't like it, but you get used to it. It was a bad day but Alex is a very, very good manager and the margins in the game are hinged on probably a couple of goals. Was that a true reflection of the game? Probably not, but we just capitalised on the spaces better than Norwich. Whether we deserved that margin is for others to judge.

'He has a very good squad and a way of playing I admire. They will absolutely bounce back. It is unusual for them to be on the back of two league defeats but that is this division and I have no doubts whatsoever they will be up there come the end of the season.'

Hughton has warned the Seagulls they have no time to dwell on an emphatic home win which extended their unbeaten league run to nine games ahead of a trip to Bristol City.

'You soon come back down to earth because we have a very tough game at Bristol this week,' he said. 'You don't get much time to enjoy it. One thing I know about this division and I have been in it long enough to know you cannot dwell or get carried away. So many teams can beat you and if you want to keep a certain level, then the focus has to be high. I think come this weekend it is all forgotten about. If Norwich were to win and we were to lose then the significance is much less. It is a very good victory against a top team.

'I was happy to go on and get the extra goals, because it generally doesn't happen against this level of opposition. To get the third, fourth and fifth showed how badly we wanted to play well. We didn't need to prove anything to anyone, but we capitalised on a very good day.'