West Brom 1-2 Brighton: Potter rewarded as The Albion take Cup seriously

From West Brom to Wembley? In the battle of the Albions, it was the 1901 version from the south who moved a step closer to winning the FA Cup thanks to a final score at the Hawthorns of West Brom 1-2 Brighton.

People may scoff at the prospect of the Seagulls going all the way, especially when the opening 24 hours of third round action have seen Chelsea and Manchester City name very strong line ups despite the complaints of managers from the European Super League Elite Six about fixture congestion and player welfare.

But why shouldn’t Brighton fans dream of an afternoon out under the arch? The Albion have proven over the past 18 months that on their day, they can go toe-to-toe with and beat the best teams in the land.

This is the strongest squad Brighton have ever had with enough depth to compete on two fronts. Whilst a kind draw would go a long way towards helping the Albion progress in the FA Cup, there is no reason why this group of players cannot write club history in the world’s greatest cup competition – even if they are paired with City, Liverpool, Spurs et all.

Brighton already have new top flight records within their grasp, sitting eighth in the table and having lost only four league matches all season.

These are heady times indeed to be an Albion fan and the enthusiasm garnered by seven points from a possible nine over Christmas has proven infectious.

That was in stark contrast to the hosts at the Hawthorns, the Albion of 1878 fame. West Brom locals were about as interested in the FA Cup as the Metropolitan Police are in investigating anything to do with the government holding illegal gatherings during lockdowns.

Of the 8,206 crowd, well over 2,000 was made up of travelling Seagulls. A home attendance of under 6,000 gave ammunition to those critics who claim the FA Cup is a shadow of the competition it once was with dwindling importance.

Brighton fans would argue otherwise. The Albion have always retained a special relationship with the FA Cup. In the 1920s and 1930s, Division Three South Brighton would regularly shock top flight opponents.

The Albion’s run to the final in 1983 is still talked about and reminisced over to this day, even by fans who were not born when it happened.

Becoming the first visiting team to win a cup game at Anfield in nearly a decade and that semi final victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury are amongst the greatest moments in Albion history. “Smith must score” is a piece of commentary that conjures up a weird mixture of pride and what-if.

Over the past decade or so, there have been memorable days out at Villa Park in the fourth round in 2010 and Old Trafford for what was only the Albion’s third ever quarter final in 2018.

In the 2010-11 season, Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named and his League One champions walked over Championship sides Portsmouth and Watford to reach the fifth round.

And then of course there was the semi final at Wembley in 2019, when Brighton came close to preventing Man City winning the first ever domestic treble.

Who knows how that might have panned out if Kyle Walker received the red card he deserved for headbutting Alireza Jahanbakhsh? And the normally reliable Glenn Murray had not chosen the worst possible moment to forget how to score a simple chance?

Graham Potter gets the FA Cup too. Despite each place in the Premier League table being worth many millions of pounds, he named a strong line up with the very clear aim of progressing in the competition.

It would have been easy for Potter to field more development squad players than just Odel Offiah, the only Under 23s regular to start in West Brom 1-2 Brighton.

When Enock Mwepu limped off injured, Potter could have replaced the midfielder with a less talented player than Alexis Mac Allister.

With the Albion’s trailing in the second half, Potter could have accepted elimination with one eye on Crystal Palace on Friday followed by Chelsea on Tuesday. Instead, he introduced even more quality like Marc Cucurella, Jakub Moder and Leandro Trossard.

Potter wanted to win. He deserves credit for that when many other managers view the FA Cup as an unnecessary distraction. It is another reason why Brighton can hope to go far – here is a manager setting his stall out to take the competition seriously.

One aspect of visiting the Hawthorns that always gets the pulse racing is the drinks selection on the concourse. Where else in the country can you have a shot of brandy?

Before kick off, it was needed to warm the cockles on a miserable day in the Midlands. At half time, it was needed to liven things up after a pretty dour opening 45 minutes.

Brighton had the only two opportunities of the half. The first arrived around the 20 minute mark when a typically precise pass from Pascal Gross sent Danny Welbeck clear.

Former Albion goalkeeper David Button advanced from his line and when Welbeck attempted to dink the ball over the Tyson Fury look-a-like, Button produced a strong arm to deny Dat Guy.

Welbeck turned provider for the second Albion chance in stoppage time, putting Neal Maupay in. Again though, Button made an excellent stop as he spread himself to deny Le Petit Shithouse Français.

Having failed to trouble the massive Kjell Scherpen once on his debut in the Albion goal during the first half, West Brom needed only two minutes of the second half to take the lead.

The defending from Brighton was woeful – not what should have been expected from an experienced back three of Joel Veltman, Shane Duffy and Dan Burn.

Karlan Grant was allowed to break down the Seagulls left. His pass found the completely unmarked Callum Robinson, who beat Scherpen from close range to give the Baggies the lead.

For the next 20 minutes, it looked like it was going to be a disappointing afternoon for the Albion. A strong Brighton side were somehow on course to lose to West Brom’s reserves, including a completely makeshift Baggies back three and a bench made up of teenagers.

Blame could be placed solely at the door of whoever decided that the Seagulls should wear their yellow third choice kit for the first time this season, the strip having never delivered a victory in numerous outings during the 2020-21 campaign. Clearly, it was cursed.

Then Cedric Kipre managed to pick up two deserved bookings in the space of a minute for fouls on Maupay and Trossard.

A Brighton side who by now were only without Adam Lallana, Adam Webster and Tariq Lamptey in terms of available first choice outfield players had 21 minutes in which to find an equaliser against a Championship second string playing with only 10 men.

That equaliser duly arrived nine minutes before the end through Jakub Moder, the Polish international sweeping home a forward pass from 17-year-old Evan Ferguson after good work down the flank from Cucurella.

Ferguson might have won it shortly after when he met a cross but the ball dipped just over the bar. Button then produced another astonishing save to keep out a Mac Allister drive, meaning that an extra 30 minutes was required. Another shot of brandy might have been nice…

The goal which ensured it finished West Brom 1-2 Brighton came eight minutes into the additional time. Moder was again at the heart of it, breaking down the right to deliver a cross into the box.

Trossard produced a clever dummy and that left Maupay with time and space to beat former teammate Button for his eighth of the season.

With Brighton exactly halfway through their Premier League campaign and further opportunities to score in the FA Cup, Maupay is on course to break the 15 goal mark this season at his current scoring rate. Not bad for a bloke who was being written off by many Brighton fans as recently as November.

West Brom 1-2 Brighton nearly became West Brom 1-3 Brighton shortly after Maupay’s strike. Ferguson tapped in after more enterprising work from Moder but the teenager was correctly flagged offside.

This was probably a good thing. Had the goal stood, then the hype machine over Ferguson would have gone into overdrive.

There is no doubt that he is a talented player, but the Albion need to learn the lessons of Aaron Connolly, Joe Gatting and to a lesser extent, Jake Robinson before they overburden Ferguson with expectation and pressure.

All three were heralded as the next big thing having scored goals galore in youth and development football. Gatting and Connolly in particular were thrown into the first team and relied upon to score goals before they were ready, largely through a paucity of other striking options.

When they failed to find the back of the net, their confidence became shot to pieces. Gatting never lived up to his potential. Connolly meanwhile developed a terrible attitude off the back of an arrogance that he had made it as a Premier League football, acting like some sort of celebrity in the clubs of Brighton.

That has led him to spend the next six months in glamorous Middlesbrough, trying to prove that he has a future at the Amex whilst on loan at the Riverside Stadium. Quite how Aaron and Lucinda are going to continue their influencing in the land of the chicken parmo is anyone’s guess.

Ferguson needs to be carefully managed. He needs to be drip fed minutes in the FA Cup and Premier League this season ahead of a possible loan move to learn the ropes in the Championship or League One next season, where he can learn what it take to make it to the top as Ben White, Robert Sanchez and Steve Alzate all did.

A good FA Cup run provides Potter with the chance to give Ferguson and other young players further opportunities. If the run does indeed extend into April or May, it will also enable Potter and this set of players to write their names into Albion history by giving supporters another magnificent FA Cup memory.

West Brom 1-2 Brighton is hopefully just the start. We’re the famous Brighton & Hove Albion and we’re going to Wembley.