SEAGULLS HITMAN DELIVERS DEADLY SMASH HIT
JOAO PEDRO silenced the growing Stoke strains of ‘Deliah’ to put Brighton in line for another FA Cup run.
Only a penalty shootout defeat against Manchester United denied Roberto De Zerbi’s side a place in last season’s final.
And when Lewis Baker buried a spot-kick to make it 2-2, Potters fans sensed an upset and their anthem reverberated around the bet365 Stadium.
But Pedro had other ideas and his clinically-taken double ensured that it was the travelling Brighton fans singing at the final whistle.
The visiting supporters must have thought what the heck when Jan Paul van Hecke lost his balance and composure to leave the Premier League side a goal down in the 16th minute.
Ki-jana Hoever left his defensive duties to advance forward and release Bae Jun-ho who wriggled his way to the byline and saw his low cross catch out Van Hecke, the Dutchman stumbling and unable to prevent the ball spurting off him over his own goal line.
Full of confidence assisted by a four-game unbeaten run under Steven Schumacher, Stoke almost made it 2-0 – an opportunist strike from Wesley from the edge of the area fizzing just wide of the post.
It needed a stunning finish from Pervis Estupinan to lift Brighton from their firsthalf lethargy deep into added time, which had seen De Zerbi cut an increasingly frustrated figure in the technical area.
Having announced his return after a lengthy injury absence with a super strike in the 4-2 win over Spurs at the end of last month, he repeated the trick with a rocket from just outside the box when a flicked header from Billy Gilmour came his way.
And skipper Lewis Dunk, back in the side following a one-game ban, made it 2-1 shortly after the break as Brighton upped the tempo.
A short-corner routine with Estupinan saw Pascal Gross chip to the far post for the England defender to comfortably head in.
But 10 minutes later Dunk was adjudged to have handled inside his own area from a corner in an aerial challenge with substitute Luke Mcnally, enabling Baker to send his spot-kick beyond debut-making Daniel Iversen’s despairing dive.
Then came the Pedro finale, first heading home a Gross cross and then, at full stretch, diverting a Van Hecke cross past Iversen.
STOKE: Iversen 6; Hoever 8, Rose 6 (Vidigal (46) 6), Wilmot 6; Leris 6 (Mcnally (45) 6), Baker 7 (Sidibe (84) 6), Burger 7, Johnson 6 (Mccarron (74) 6) Junho 6, Haksabanovic 6 (Mmaee (57) 6); Wesley 7 (Lower (74) 6) BRIGHTON: Verbruggen 6: Hinshelwood 6, Dunk 7 (Baleba (83) 6), Van Hecke 6, Estupinan 7; Gross 8, Gilmour 6 (Hinchy (90) 5), Buananotte 6 (Welbeck (57) 7); Moder 6 (Webster (57) 6), Joao Pedro 7 (Lallana (83) 6); Ferguson 6 (Peupion (90) 5) STAR MAN: Pascal Gross – Kept Brighton on the front foot when the Potters threatened to cause an upset. REF: Paul Tierney 7