Nathan Redmond's pivotal role in Brighton's downfall was a painful blow for his former mentor Chris Hughton in a first reunion with his old club.

Hughton unleashed the teenage Redmond, inset, as a professional during their time together at Birmingham before enticing the England Under-21 flyer to Norwich in a 22-month stint at Carrow Road.

Redmond's intervention within six minutes of his second-half arrival at the Amex Stadium settled a hard-fought Championship contest, when he powered away from Joe Bennett before rolling the ball back for Bradley Johnson to pounce.

'Redmond is a big talent and he is capable of doing something like that against anybody,' said Hughton. 'He came on and showed some real quality in his movement. I look at it from a defensive point of view and you always look at whether we could do better and Joe will feel he could have done. He has been good for us but in that circumstance he could have perhaps dealt with it. In the context of the game it was a poor goal for us to concede.

'I know what Nathan can do, particularly coming off the bench. That isn't a surprise factor. He can do that on a regular basis and when I brought him in to Norwich and had him at Birmingham I was very aware of that.'

Hughton tipped the Canaries for promotion before a ball was kicked this season and the Seagulls boss expects Alex Neil's squad to clinch automatic promotion over the run-in.

'They are the best team, they have the best squad,' he said. 'They are a squad I felt would get promotion at the start of the season and they are a team I feel will get automatic promotion. For us, it is about making sure we compete in these top games and we did that and we gave a real good account of ourselves, but perhaps that is what pushes Norwich on; they have the quality to score these type of goals.

'They didn't have real clear-cut chances but they had a lot of the ball and they are always a threat, even in the second half in the periods when we were on top. That is the difference at the minute.'