But another Seagulls defender on loan suffered a nightmare league debut for his new club.
Eiran Cashin helped Blackburn give their Championship survival hopes a big boost as they won 3-1 at QPR.
The former Derby defender’s move to the Amex last season has been placed in the spotlight by a feature in the Daily Telegraph, which suggested it was too heavily based on data.
“It is believed the club were warned off Eiran Cashin, but signed him on the back of strong data reports in any case,” the report told readers.
Blackburn picked up on that and made their own observation after the win at Loftus Road.
No data reports needed to know that this man was absolutely superb again today! 💪@eirancashin | #QPRvROV | #Rovers 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/tGRAP1ym6c
— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) February 14, 2026
They posted a picture of a triumphant Cashin on social media and wrote: “No data reports needed to know that this man was absolutely superb again today!”
Cashin spent the first half of the season on loan at Birmingham before being pitched into the wrong end of the second tier.
He has been doing well at left-back after Rovers switched from 3-5-2 to 4-2-3-1 and recently scored the only goal of a home game against Sheffield Wednesday.
Meanwhile Diego Coppola was in a back three for Paris FC as they crashed 5-0 at home to French league leaders Lens.
It was both the Italian’s league and home debut for his new club having previously been unused substitute for two Ligue Un games.
He played in a 2-0 defeat away to Lorient in the cup.
Coppola operated on the right of a back three as Lens, for whom former Albion striker Abdallah Sima went on as a late substitute, made the most of PSG’s defeat at Rennes on Friday.