BRIGHTON 0 Reach for the stars HIGH-FLYING OWLS PRAISED BY MONK AS BRIGHTON ROCKED
SHEF WEDS 1
GARRY MONK hailed his Sheffield Wednesday team’s attitude, courage and mental strength after dumping out last season’s FA Cup semi-finalists at the first hurdle.
Wednesday had not beaten Premier League opponents in 21 FA Cup games, their last success against a top-flight club the 2-1 victory over Steel City rivals Sheffield United in the 1992-93 semi-final at Wembley.
But they always looked likely to win this one against a muchchanged Brighton side that lacked leadership in the absence of their rested captain Lewis Dunk.
The only goal came from Adam Reach, a deflected shot after 65 minutes and Wednesday held in after that with little difficulty.
“I thought it was our attitude and mentality and of course it was our football as well,” said Monk.
“We knew were would have to be good in in our structure and defensively. But it was more courage and mentality today.
“We let ourselves down last week with that side of it and today we put
BRIGHTON SHEFF WED 3 ........ Shots on Target ......... 4 3 ........ Shots off Target ......... 3 2 .......... Blocked Shots ........... 2 8 ................ Corners ................. 7 13 ................. Fouls .................... 9 1 ................ Offsides ................ 0 54 ........ Possession % ........ 46 59 ...... 1st Half Poss % . ....... 41 54 ..... 2nd Half Poss % . ..... 46 that right. When we have the courage and mentality to push hard that is what we are capable of. It was very pleasing to see that today.”
His team went into the game on the back of three successive Championship defeats and he had challenged them to show they were better than recent results showed.
“What was most important today was the response to the week we have just had,” he said.
“We were disappointed with ourselves and wanted to put that right. We needed to show that we wanted to win this game.
“I didn’t make changes for the sake of it because it was an FA Cup game, I made changes because there deserved to be.
“We were honest enough to know that we let ourselves down last week and the changes were going to come because of that. Today we were at a really good level. They went with a strong side as well and we had to play with real good quality and deserved this win.”
Wednesday had the first shot on goal, Jacob Murphy clipping a first-time effort just over the crossbar.
But they had to survive a close shave when Brighton striker Neal Maupay beat goalkeeper Cameron Dawson to a through pass but dithered and was robbed by Dominic Iorfa.
Brighton had plenty of the ball but wanted too many touches and too many passes. And in first-half added time they almost paid as Steven Fletcher caught Dale Stephens in possession and shot for the top corner, David Button denying him scoring the opener with an acrobatic leaping save to his right.
Wednesday continued their dominance in the second half even after top scorer Fletcher left on a stretcher with a serious-looking knee injury, and their goal was no surprise at all.
Steven Alzate fouled Massimo Luongo 18 yards out and when a short free-kick came to Reach, his low shot was deflected past Button.
“We didn’t play well,” Seagulls head coach Graham Potter said. “We lacked cohesion. It was a flat performance.”
He added: “We had some chances in the first half but they deserved to go through.”