BRIGHTON SPOT ON TO BREAK NEWPORT HEARTS
BRIGHTON sealed their place in the FA Cup fourth round with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out at Newport. Steele produced stunning saves to deny Newport’s first two spot-kicks by Josh Sheehan and Mickey Demetriou, with Pascal Gross scoring Brighton’s opening penalty. King saved from Neal Maupay to keep the hosts in touch before Joss Labadie got them on the scoresheet, with Bissouma hitting the woodwork to leave the scores at 1-1 after three penalties apiece. Ryan Taylor and Dunk traded penalties but Steele saved from Liam Shephard to hand Leandro Trossard the chance to win the tie for Brighton, only for King to save his effort with his feet. Jamie Proctor and Davy Propper both netted before Scot Bennett was denied by Steele - his fourth stop of the shootout - as Webster redeemed himself by slotting home the winning spot-kick. Brighton conceded a shocker of an own goal in the 96th minute to send the tie into extra time. Goalkeeper Jason Steele could only flap at a cross and the ball hit Adam Webster before ending up in the Brighton net.
Solly March looked to have broken the hearts of FA Cup giantkillers Newport as he struck with eight seconds of normal time left on the clock at Rodney Parade. Brighton had forced home keeper Tom Day into a number of top saves, but could not shake off the League Two promotion candidates in regulation time. Newport manager Michael Flynn had been saying all week how special the FA Cup is to the club, and how the cash they made out of their recent giant killing acts had kept them alive. His players battled to add Brighton’s scalp to that of Leicester City, taken two years ago. Brighton boss Graham Potter knew all about the potential pitfalls of playing on a Rodney Parade pitch that 24 hours earlier had hosted a Welsh regional rugby derby.
His former Newport loan player Ben White had played in the team under Flynn that beat Leeds United and then drew with Tottenham three seasons ago. Early in the action, Newport’s Matty Dolan sent FA Cup marksman Padraig Amond racing onto a long ball and he almost made it seven goals in nine cup ties with a lob to the right corner that just missed the target. Having ridden that early storm, Premier League Brighton settled down to dominate possession and territory. The pitch played better than expected — John Raymond, one of the ground staff, had stayed up all night to ensure the hot air balloon kept the frost out — and Yves Bissouma pulled the strings in midfield to keep his side on the attack.