FIGHTING TO KEEP THE CUP MAGIC ALIVE
The only current Premier League manager who lifted the trophy as a player, Chris Hughton is…
He’S achieved plenty in his time, Chris hughton. As a player at Tottenham, he won a UeFA Cup final against Anderlecht in 1984. As a manager, he has taken newcastle and Brighton from the Championship to the Premier League.
yet when asked for the zenith of his career, his response was instant: ‘The 1981 FA Cup final is probably still my highest point, the highlight of my career.’
A curious statistic is that hughton is the only current Premier League manager to have lifted the FA Cup as a player. he was on the Wembley turf in 1981 as Ricky Villa bobbed and weaved his way past a flurry of Manchester City players and he was part of the fizzing celebrations that followed. hughton won the trophy for a second time the following year, when Spurs beat QPR.
‘I know what it means to win it. I know how exciting that is,’ said hughton, after seeing his side breeze past League Two Coventry. his team may have included nine changes but the attitude was spot on from the dug-out to the playing field. Brighton matched their industrious visitors for diligence and then sprinkled their extra class on top.
Jurgen Locadia, the Dutchman signed for £14.1million from PSV eindhoven last month, made a bubbling start. After recovering from injury, he scored inside 15 minutes and only the woodwork and errant finishing prevented a debut hat-trick. Locadia set the ball rolling and then the Cup produced a warming moment for defender Connor Goldson, who scored his first goal since recovering from heart surgery to double the Brighton lead. Leo Ulloa added the third with a thumping header before Jonson Clarkeharris pulled one back in a late Coventry rally.
Towards the final whistle, Brighton supporters began to sing of a trip to Wembley. A couple of hours later, such optimism may have dipped following a sixth- round draw away at Manchester United. Still, it is a first FA Cup quarter-final for the club since 1986 and the fixture will conjure nostalgic memories of the 1983 final between the two — drawn 2-2 before Brighton lost the replay — and the famous ‘And Smith must score’ commentary by Peter Jones. ‘Building up into this one,’ hughton said, ‘most of the talk was about 1987 when I played and we lost against Coventry. When I am around Coventry people, it is something still massive in the history of their club and you always look forward to creating those moments.
‘People remember [the Gordon Smith moment] and that is because of the magnitude. Irrespective of all the changes [to the FA Cup], it is still . . . it is best to speak to some foreign managers because when they come here, it is often what they know about, the magic of this Cup competition. We have been brought up on it. however much we think it is changing, which it is, once you get to the latter stages, it is as exciting as ever.’
hughton’s outlook is encouraging. There is a perception that the Cup is on its backside and that is mostly due to the attitude of managers of middling to lower Premier League clubs.
David Moyes gave the impression West ham were beaten before a ball was even kicked against League one Wigan Athletic in the fourth round. Wigan had earlier dismissed Bournemouth in the third round. At Swansea, Carlos Carvalhal appears to view the competition as a distraction he could do without, but his players keep bumbling along in it anyway, and require a replay for the third consecutive round against lower-league opposition.
While others see the path to glory as an inconvenience, hughton senses opportunity. Brighton’s route has not been easy. There was a derby victory over Crystal Palace in the third round, the 650-mile round trip to Tony Pulis’s Middlesbrough in the fourth and then this awkward fixture against a Coventry side who brought 4,000 supporters and had already seen off Stoke City.
hughton, by contrast, knows what a Cup run can do. It invigorates supporters, with the stadium close to capacity for this one, and it has energised his dressing room, who are now five unbeaten in all competitions since winning at Boro.
‘We will see where it takes us,’ hughton smiled. ‘We are one game away from a semi-final — and that is exciting.’ BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (4-4-2): Krul 6 (Maenpaa 46min, 6); Bruno 7, Goldson 7.5, Hunemeier 6.5, Suttner 7; Knockaert 7, Kayal 7, Stephens 7.5 (Propper 46, 6), March 7; LOCADIA 8 (Baldock 77), Ulloa 7.
Subs not used: Dunk, Rosenior, Izquierdo, Hemed. Scorers: Locadia 15, Goldson 34, Ulloa 61. Manager: Chris Hughton 8. COVENTRY CITY (4-4-1-1): Burge 6; Grimmer 6 (McDonald 57, 6), Willis 5, Hyam 5, Haynes 5.5; Bayliss 6, Kelly 6, Shipley 5.5, Barrett 5.5 (Biamou 79); Clarke-Harris 7; McNulty 6 (Ponticelli 74, 5). Subs not used: Stokes, Vincenti, O’Brien, Kelly-Evans. Scorer: Clarke-Harris 77. Manager: Mark Robins 6.5. Referee: Craig Pawson 7. Attendance: 26,966.