Newport County 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 1 AET Albion win 3-4 on penalties
Albion came through one of the most bizarre matches in their history to put themselves in the FA Cup fourth round draw tomorrow (Monday 11 January).
When Albion finally won the tie, it was less than an hour and a half until Monday, with the Seagulls due to play away at Manchester City on Wednesday (13 January).
Albion players and staff wore black armbands as a mark of respect to club sponsor and local restaurateur Sue Addis who died on Thursday evening.
Early on in the match Padraig Amond had the best chances, capitalising on separate mistakes from Jason Steele and Lewis Dunk.
Dunk atoned for Steele’s error with a spectacular goal-line clearance.
The skipper himself had a header well saved by County keeper Tom King who also saved well from Alexis Mac Allister.
Albion dominated possession, with Yves Bissouma again controlling the midfield. The Seagulls continued to dominate possession in the second half with Neal Maupay, Andi Zeqiri and Solly March all going close.
Davy Propper on as a substitute also went close and should have done better, the lay off for his chance coming from fellow substitute Percy Tau, who finally made an Albion appearance over 900 days since signing in July 2018.
Just as the clocked ticked over to 90 minutes March, with an assist from Propper, curled the ball home to surely send the Seagulls through.
March was then substituted deep into injury time for Bernando at the same time as 42-year-old Kevin Ellison came on for Newport.
Agonisingly for Albion, Jamie Proctor’s last ditch cross went past Steele’s gloves, hit Webster and trickled over the line for 1-1.
In extra time Dunk had a couple of good chances but King made two excellent saves. Tau also saw a decent effort go wide.
Newport pressed at the end of extra time but the match went to penalties.
Making up for his howler, Steele saved the first Newport penalties from Josh Sheehan and Sussex-born Mickey Demetriou.
Pascal Gross put Albion 1-0 up and Maupay had the chance to put Albion 2-0 ahead but King saved.
Joss Labadie scored with Newport’s third kick.
Yves Bissouma stepped up to restore Albion’s advantage but hit the post.
Ryan Taylor then put County in front. Dunk equalised, despite a touch from King.
Astonishingly, Steele then saved Liam Shepeherd’s effort meaning that Leandro Trossard could fire Albion through.
King saved with his feet and it went to sudden death.
Jamie Proctor converted, as did Propper for Albion – it has to be said under great pressure.
And that pressure got to Newport’s Scott Bennett as Steele again made a great save for Albion.
This left Adam Webster to roll his kick down the middle finally at 10.31pm to put Albion into the fourth round.
And then Albion go to Manchester City in the Premier League on Wednesday (13 January).
What a cliffhanger! I’ve watched quite a few games in my time, but this was unbelievable. The Albion coach’s face was a picture. It got so crazy that at times I was laughing. It finished at 10.30 pm, then there was the long haul back to Brighton afterwards. Well done, lads!
any chance of seeing a you-tube replay?!