Stoke 0-1 Brighton: Albion can do it on a Tuesday night in Stoke
The match report on the BBC Sport website from Stoke City 0-1 Brighton begins with a rather glorious line which shows how far the Albion have come these past five years.
“Brighton’s hopes of securing a first major trophy remain alive as Evan Ferguson’s first half goal proved enough to secure a place in the FA Cup sixth round.”
Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls are not in the last eight of the world’s greatest cup competition to merely make up the numbers, as was the case when Chris Hughton led the Albion to the semi finals in 2019.
The national media now talk about Brighton as a side with a genuine chance of lifting the famous old trophy at Wembley on Saturday 3rd June.
This belief maybe newfound amongst pundits, but it is not for De Zerbi. Within a matter of weeks of his reign, the charismatic Italian was telling Brighton fans to dream of Europe.
A month after the Carabao Cup cock up at Charlton Athletic, he still bristled with anger at his side failing to advance past League One opposition in a competition most managers do not give a toss about.
De Zerbi wants to win everything, be it the FA Cup or League Cup. If Brighton were able to enter a first team in the Papa John’s Trophy, he would probably send out the big guns in front of less than a thousand people away at Stevenage.
Likewise, the Sussex Senior Cup. It is a bit of a surprise De Zerbi has not commandeered it for his senior players, giving Alexis Mac Allister the chance to become the first man in history to be crowned both a World champion and a Sussex champion.
De Zerbi again laid out his ambition after Stoke 0-1 Brighton, saying: “I can’t promise anything but I can promise we will work hard every day to make the fans happy and proud.”
“I understand they want to win a trophy and competition. To win, we need to work and improve. For the moment we have the possibility to arrive in Europe.”
There was a time when even the best teams in Europe would struggle on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke. Not so much anymore, with the Potters marooned in the lower mid table area of the Championship.
But this still represented a potential banana skin for Brighton. The Albion had triumphed just once from their previous 18 meetings with Stoke.
No Brighton side had won at the Bet365 Stadium. The last time the Seagulls came away from the Potteries with a victory was in 1961, a 1-0 success at Victoria Park.
The free flowing football full of attacking verve which had seen off Middlesbrough 5-1 and beaten holders Liverpool 2-1 in the previous rounds of the FA Cup was never likely to be on show at the Bet365 Stadium.
Instead, this was one of those game where the Albion needed to get in, get the job done and then get out again. In that regard, it was mission accomplished.
The second half in particular was about as much fun as driving around every supermarket in Brighton & Hove in search of one with a tomato in stock.
Brighton already led by that point thanks to Evan Ferguson’s goal on the half hour mark. Lewis Dunk marked his 400th appearance for the Albion with a brilliant defence splitting pass to Kaoru Mitoma.
The Japanese Bullet Train would have delighted the sizable number of his compatriots amongst an away following of more than 2,000 by claiming an assist, selflessly squaring to Ferguson for a tap in.
Brighton missed a couple of good chances to take the lead before that. Facundo Buanonotte should have marked his full Albion debut with a goal but his effort at the back post was a weak one and allowed Jack Bonham to save for a corner.
The resulting set piece was delivered straight onto the head of Jan Paul van Hecke, who showed why Brighton have the worst scoring record from set pieces in the Premier League this season by heading wastefully over.
Jason Steele became an increasingly important figure as the game wore on, very much earning his coffee (and stronger refreshments) over the coming days in various establishments around the mean streets of Hove.
Steele saved from Tyrese Campbell twice and Jordan Thompson before the first half was out. The Potters’ best chance after the break came when Axel Tuanzebe headed a free kick just wide on his first start after a nightmare 13 months out injured.
The outstanding Moises Caicedo spent most of the match taking so much of a kicking from Stoke that he must have been wondering what he was doing out there when he is only getting paid £3 a week and a small can of Fanta as a goal bonus.
Alexis Mac Allister had a word with both the referee and a Stoke thug at one point to try and get Caicedo some protection. There was a certain amount of irony about Alex Neil saying he was frustrated with the Albion making the most of “limited contact” in Stoke 0-1 Brighton.
Maybe Neil just has a particular penchant for speaking bollocks? He did once famously claim Brighton were a boring team when he was manager of Norwich City, only for the Albion to then go and wallop the Canaries 5-0 at the Amex.
Caicedo managed to avoid being fouled to give Jeremy Sarmiento a sight of goal kept out at full stretch by Bonham.
Brighton improved slightly in the final 15 minutes with Danny Welbeck denied by Bonham, Deniz Undav putting the ball wide from 30 yards after the Stoke goalkeeper strayed into no man’s land and Welbeck hitting the post.
In the end, those misses did not matter. One goal was enough to take Brighton into the quarter finals of the FA Cup for only the fifth time.
The away end at the Bet365 Stadium sung of Wembley at the full time whistle. Albion fans believe. De Zerbi believes. And now the media are starting to.
Que sera sera?
