Evan Ferguson scored the only goal of the game to help Brighton produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the FA Cup. On the half-hour mark, the 18-year-old Republic of Ireland international executed a superb play to score his fifth goal for the Seagulls. After the breakthrough by on-loan Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe, the Sky Bet Championship hosts came close to equalizing, but Brighton replacement Danny Welbeck hit the post in stoppage time as the visitors advanced to the last eight for the third time in six seasons. De Zerbi made five changes to his starting lineup ten days after their last encounter, a 1-0 Premier League loss to Fulham, with Ferguson one of two 18-year-olds in the lineup.
The other was Argentine midfielder Facundo Buonanotte, who was making his first start for the club since coming in January, while skipper Lewis Dunk was making his 400th appearance. Stoke, who are presently 17th in the Premier League, made seven changes from Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Millwall, with Alex Neil bringing in January signing Tuanzebe for his complete debut. Tyrese Campbell of the Potters registered the game’s first effort in the fifth minute, cutting in from the right and seeing Jason Steele stop his shot. Soon after, Jack Bonham deflected Buonanotte’s header behind, and Jan Paul van Hecke nodded in from the following corner.
Stoke threatened again in the 29th minute when Steele went down to save a low Campbell strike, but Brighton had been controlling possession and a minute later they were in ahead when Kaoru Mitoma sprinted on to Dunk’s superb through-ball and delivered a delightful pass of his own to Ferguson, who tapped in. The first half ended with Moises Caicedo shooting wide of the Stoke goal and Jordan Thompson’s attempt being deflected by Steele. While Brighton sought another early in the second half, Pascal Gross pulled an effort wide and Jeremy Sarmiento’s shot was well stopped by Bonham, before Stoke almost equalised in the 65th minute with Tuanzebe putting a header just wide. Mitoma had a chance to double Brighton’s lead after 73 minutes, but his effort went wide.
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