Brighton 4-0 Crawley: Crime spree can’t stop Albion in Carabao

The leg breaking challenge. The wink. The sight of a new £25 million signing limping off six minutes into his debut. Jay Williams should have been shown red for what he did to Matt O’Riley in a moment which summed up Brighton 4-0 Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup.

Crawley can actually be a half-decent footballing side. The Amex saw that at times when they managed to get runners clear of the Albion’s high defensive line on several first half occasions.

But they seemed to decide that their best way to make a mark on the first competitive Sussex Derby for 32 years was by embarking on a crime spree.

O’Riley was crocked. Julio Enciso was flattened minutes later by Williams. The Paraguayan international received plenty of rough treatment at the hands of Crawley players throughout his 70 minutes on the pitch.

Yasin Ayari was fortunate not to suffer a similar fate to O’Riley when Jack Roles went through him right at the death. At long, long, last, referee Alex Chilowicz brought out the red card.

Not only was Mr Chilowicz horrifically out of his depth, but his performance made an excellent case as to why Brighton are lucky to have VAR in operation every week.

Williams would never have dared that tackle on O’Riley with an extra pair of eyes watching from Stockley Park. If he did, it would have earned the sending off and three game ban it deserved.

With reports of homophobic chants at Lewes Station and some overexcited Crawley (or Crystal Palace) fans trying to give it the big one around the Amex, hopefully it is another 32 years before the Albion face the small bus stop near Gatwick again.

Despite this being Crawley’s big day out and their attempts to stop via Brighton via a crimewave, the Albion were always comfortable from the moment Simon Adingra opened the scoring on the half hour mark.

Carlos Baleba was a driving force in midfield throughout Brighton 4-0 Crawley Town. He slipped in Simon Adingra. The African Cup of Nations winner cut in from the left and beat Reds goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott.

With wonderful timing, the goal arrived to a backdrop of Crawley supporters singing “Your support is fucking shit.” Adingra silenced the visitors, who earlier had been given cause for optimism by forcing Bart Verbruggen into two good saves.

Verbruggen last played a competitive game of football in the Euro 2024 semi final for the Netherlands against England. Here he was, facing Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup. Funny old game, isn’t it?

The Albion moved 2-0 ahead early in the second half. A beautiful turn on halfway from Enciso took a couple of Crawley thugs out the game.

Enciso broke forward to find Jeremy Sarmiento. The Burnley-bound winger fired into the roof of the net to effectively wrap up the tie with the best part of 45 minutes still to play.

Crawley fluffed two opportunities for a consolation. Armando Quitirna headed wide, followed by Imari Samuels getting caught in possession. Ronan Darcy crossed but nobody in red could get on the end for what would have been a tap in.

That was Samuels’ final contribution before being replaced by Pervis Estupinan, making a first team return after ankle surgery ahead of schedule.

Roberto De Zerbi said at the end of last season that Estupinan would not be back until the autumn. His early return makes more sense of Brighton’s decision to loan Valentin Barco to Sevilla for the campaign.

Two goals in the final 10 minutes completed the rout. The Albion earned a corner on the east side of the North Stand which nobody seemed willing to take.

Cameron Peupion eventually wandered over, looking very reluctant. He need not have been. A pinpoint delivery into the box was met by the head of captain Adam Webster.

Seagulls supporters have long been accustomed to Brighton being crap at set pieces. Maybe this is the answer? Forget carefully laid plans or working on corners in training and just let whoever is closest to the ball at the time have a go at taking?

180 seconds later and Mark O’Mahony made it Brighton 4-0 Crawley. The young Irish forward turned over possession, advanced and beat Wollacott with a clinical finish.

The Albion now had six minutes plus injury time to find another goal and equal the 5-0 win over Crawley in that only previous game between the clubs back in 1992.

Not that it mattered when they could not. Brighton have a long and proud tradition of suffering embarrassing cup exits to clubs from lower leagues, including in this competition two seasons ago against Charlton Athletic.

Any win would therefore have been a good win. But the professional manner in which Brighton kept their cool and swatted aside hosts whose favoured tactic was to kick them off the park was impressive.

Crawley crime wave navigated; destination Wembley?