Man of Steele is the super hero for Brighton
BRIGHTON goalkeeper Jason Steele starred in the penalty shootout to break Newport’s hearts last night. Adam Webster hit the winning spot-kick after Steele had saved four Newport penalties. Earlier, Brighton had conceded a shocker of an own goal in the sixth minute of stoppage-time to send the tie into an extra halfhour. Steele could only flap at a cross and the ball hit Webster before ending up in the net. Before that, Solly March looked to have decided the tie as he struck with eight seconds of normal time left. Brighton had forced home keeper Tom King into a number of top saves, but could not shake off the League Two promotion candidates. Early in the game, Newport’s Matty Dolan sent Padraig Amond racing onto a long ball and he almost made it seven goals in nine cup ties with a lob to the corner that just missed the target. Having ridden that early storm, Brighton settled down to dominate possession. Yves Bissouma pulled the strings in midfield to keep the Premier League side on the attack. It was a Bissouma shot from 30 yards that forced Wales squad goalkeeper Tom King into one of a series of impressive saves to keep the home side in the game before the break. At full stretch, he pushed away a bullet header from Lewis Dunk, then held on to an Alexis Mac Allister shot and somehow denied Andi Zeqiri. It wasn’t all one-way traffic and Steele was happy to see skipper Dunk save his blushes by clearing a goal-bound lob from Amond after a horrendous back pass from Pascal Gross. Newport started the second half far more brightly and Welsh international Josh Sheehan saw more of the ball. Jamie Devitt tried a long-range effort that was wide of the mark for the hosts and Davy Propper pulled a shot across the goal that missed by mere inches.