What a thrill-a-minute goal-fest this meeting between Sheffield United and Brighton proved. Top billing was shared by João Pedro, whose hat-trick featured two penalties and took his team into Sunday’s fifth-round draw, and the bustling handful named Will Osula, scorer of the Blades’ second and creator of Gustavo Hamer’s first.
Jayden Bogle, too, had a lead part but in conceding both of the spot-kicks not for a reason he would wish. And while the Blades are eliminated, it is evident that, since replacing Paul Heckingbottom on 5 December, Chris Wilder has transformed them into a spirited proposition able to come back from 2-0 to 2-2 and remain in the tie even after João Pedro’s third (the visitors’ fourth). Danny Welbeck’s added-time strike, though, killed them off.
Roberto De Zerbi’s more artistic team were a picture of cultured play before and after being pegged back by Osula’s header and their calm propelled them on to emerge as deserved victors.
De Zerbi hailed João Pedro while sending him a message. “I consider João Pedro a big, big potential player – my expectation is bigger than he is showing,” the Italian said. “He’s playing well, scoring a lot of goals but I think he can reach a higher level. I push for this because I work for Brighton – and for my players, to get better.”
Brighton fired the first salvo via an Evan Ferguson header that beat Ivo Grbic but was instantly flagged offside. Next, the Blades keeper flung himself left but was helpless to repel Facundo Buonanotte’s 25-yard rocket that opened the scoring and had the travelling Seagulls fans in party mode.
The Blades’ response had Ben Brereton Díaz skipping along the left, turning infield and slicing he ball over to Hamer on the opposing side of Brighton’s area but a clumsy miscontrol followed.
The same characteristic was present in Bogle’s mistimed challenge on João Pedro that cost his team a first penalty and concession of the second goal. When the No 9’s dip-then-turn into the area opened up the field, the desperate Bogle’s solution was to fell the Brazilian. After a delay for a VAR check, João Pedro scored to the audible disgust of the home faithful who, after only 28 minutes, were facing a humiliation, a sense deepened when João Pedro soon went close again.
Their mood was about to change, though, as the Blades ripped up the script by prospering along their right: Osula crossed, Bart Verbruggen pushed the ball to Hamer and he rifled it into the roof of the net.
Wilder’s men were in charge, flooding Brighton, and now came a Bogle ball from the right that had Osula popping up and heading in to equalise.
Could the second half be as entertaining? The resounding answer was yes. The Blades were punchy but Brighton were silkier and De Zerbi’s men claimed their second spot-kick seven minutes after the break. Again Bogle was in the dock, this time for a handball, when challenging Ferguson – the referee, Sunny Singh Gill, had no hesitation in awarding the penalty and again, after a VAR check, João Pedro trotted forward and beat Grbic, this time to the keeper’s left.
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Wilder voiced unhappiness at Hamer’s failure to clear the ball. “We have a player who has two passes [chances] to get it out – poor decision,” he said.
There were more twists in the pell-mell entertainment. Bogle could not be kept out of the action and his next offering was to skate on to a deflected Díaz pass and hammer at goal to no avail. João Pedro’s third – Brighton’s fourth – was a peach of a low 20-yard finish and was the latest touch of class in a display that oozed quality.
The Blades, as they do under Wilder, kept the heat turned up but could not breach Brighton again – Welbeck’s dribble and finish ending the scoring, though James McAtee, on as a substitute, did crash the ball off Verbruggen’s bar with the final act of a riveting game.
The previous meeting of these protagonists in the competition ended goalless in January 1987, with the Blades triumphing 2-1 after the replay at the Goldstone Ground. A 19-year-old Wilder enjoyed his debut in the first meeting but he will not have enjoyed the result of this latest encounter.
