Brighton to face Man City in FA Cup semis
Brighton & Hove Albion earned an FA Cup semi-final date with Manchester City, following a great fightback in their quarter-final against Millwall on Sunday.
It is the first time since 1983 that Brighton have reached the FA Cup's last four. Watford will meet Wolverhampton Wanderers in the other semi-final.
But at one stage, it seemed as though Brighton would suffer an upset by Championship strugglers Millwall, who were leading 2-0 through goals by Alex Pearce and Aiden O'Brien.
Juergen Locadia sparked Brighton's comeback by pulling a goal back in the 88th minute. Then, in the fifth minute of injury-time, Solly March's seemingly harmless free-kick left Millwall goalkeeper David Martin flapping at the ball before it went in the top corner to send the tie into extra-time.
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Millwall were reduced to 10 men a minute from the end of extra-time when likely penalty-taker Shane Ferguson was sent off for a petulant stamp on Lewis Dunk.
At the very end of extra-time, Brighton thought they had a winner, only for Martin Montoya, in a match without VAR, to be incorrectly flagged for offside as the tie headed to spot-kicks. The Seagulls prevailed 5-4 on penalties after sudden death.
Brighton boss Chris Hughton praised his side's character, saying: "At 2-0 down, with the thought of going out of the competition, we had a group of players who decided they desperately wanted to stay in the Cup."
He made no secret of the fact he'd prefer to face either Watford or Wolves, the other semi-finalists, in the semi-finals at Wembley next month.
"I don't think it is any surprise that all three teams didn't want to draw City but we're so pleased to go through," he said.
"If in any way we don't think we can win the semi-final, there's almost no point going into it." - REUTERS
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