Brighton manager Chris Hughton felt his side were good value for their 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest which saw them start the season with a victory for the first time in four years.
A superb strike from winger Kazenga LuaLua five minutes after the interval was enough to give Hughton's men maximum points at the Amex Stadium.
Former Newcastle, Birmingham and Norwich boss Hughton described LuaLua as a "winner" and felt his team deserved the victory.
He said: "It is a nice way in which to start the season. It was a typical Championship game, being fairly tight, but we deserved to win it.
"Kazenga is a winner and had a good all-round game. You want to see that from your wide players.
"I am happy with the performance in general. Forest are a good side, with pace in wide areas.
"They may have players out injured now, but with that XI I can see them winning a lot of games this season."
Brighton have brought veteran striker Bobby Zamora back to the club, but the 34-year-old was unable to make the bench and Hughton said he is still some way off match fitness.
"We don`t know when Bobby will be fit," Hughton added. "He's trained three times but it'll be irresponsible of us to put him in too early."
Forest boss Dougie Freedman revealed afterwards that Robert Tesche, injured in a challenge with Israeli international midfielder Beram Kayal, has a suspected broken foot.
Freedman did not condemn the challenge but felt that Brighton were over-physical when Forest were counter-attacking, as they were often stopped by fouls.
Freedman said: "Unfortunately Robert has broken his foot and it's a big blow. It's the last thing we need right now but it'll give opportunities to others.
"I felt we were unfortunate to come in at half-time 0-0 but our concentration let us down soon after the break. After that our response was fantastic.
"We worked their keeper and on another night we would have got something out of the game.
"We went down to a sucker punch and it's important for us to stay focused now.
"It was disappointing that we lost concentration when Brighton scored, but after that we had a real good go."
Source: PA
