Manchester United 1-2 Brighton: Welbeck haunts former club in FA Cup third round

Goals from Brajan Gruda and Danny Welbeck sealed Brighton’s place in the fourth round of the FA Cup , as they defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The hosts did get one goal back through Benjamin Šeško with five minutes of football left to play. However, it was too little, too late as Darren Fletcher’s side were eliminated from the FA Cup and even went down to 10 men.

Manchester United started on the front foot, creating early opportunities inside the opening three minutes through Diogo Dalot.

The hosts dominated possession during the first 10 minutes, enjoying far more of the ball than Brighton and applying sustained pressure in the final third.

Bruno Fernandes came close to opening the scoring from a free kick, but Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele produced a fine save to tip the effort behind for a United corner.

Despite United’s strong start, Brighton struck first through Gruda from open play, against the run of play.

Welbeck nearly doubled the visitors’ advantage following a mistake from Senne Lammens, but the forward was flagged offside.

United responded with chances of their own, as Šeško saw his effort saved by Steele before Matheus Cunha fired over the crossbar.

Brighton continued to threaten, with Joël Veltman attempting to make it 2-0, but his effort drifted wide of the United goal.

Fabian Hürzeler made six changes to the Brighton side, who went into the breaking leading Manchester United 1-0.

United nearly drew level before the whistle, but Cunha’s effort sailed wide of the near post.

Darren Fletcher’s men began the second half with intensity, showing clear determination to push for an equalizer.

Despite United’s intensity, the Seagulls had more shots at goal than the hosts during the opening 13 minutes of the second half.

Kobbie Mainoo was shown a yellow card after committing a late challenge on Welbeck before being replaced by Zirkzee.

Welbeck doubled Brighton’s lead against his former club, finishing from open play with a fine strike past Lammens.

United struggled to break down a solid and well-organized Brighton defence, despite enjoying more possession.

Šeško rose to meet a corner and head the ball into the back of the net, pulling one back for United with five minutes of time left to play.

It was end-to-end football in those final five minutes, with United looking capable of finding an equaliser.

However, teenager Shea Lacey was sent off two yellow card offences in quick succession, first for a late challenge on Yasin Ayari and then for throwing the ball to the ground in frustration, leaving United down to 10 men during the closing minutes of added time.

United pressed in the final moments in search of an equaliser but were unable to find the net.

As a result, the hosts exit the FA Cup in the third round for the first time since 2014, while Brighton are into the hat for the fourth round.

Things don’t get much easier for the Red Devils, with their next game coming in the form of the Manchester derby at Old Trafford, while Brighton will pursue a fifth consecutive game without defeat when they host Bournemouth.