Manchester City were dumped out of the FA Youth Cup in the fourth round as they failed to make their chances count against Brighton.
A long-range effort from Zak Emmerson that flew straight through goalkeeper Mikki van Sas's hands was enough to defeat Ben Wilkinson's side and see their hopes of winning the prestigious competition end early for a second successive season.
City Under-18s, winners of this competition in 2020 but knocked out in the fourth round last year, included Romeo Lavia and Luke Mbete fresh from their first-team involvement under Pep Guardiola at the weekend in what was a strong starting XI at Brighton.
The visitors signalled their intent from the start, with 17-year-old winger Dire Mebude regularly causing the hosts problems with his direct running and trickery, but could not make their dominance count on the scoresheet in the first half.
Brighton grew in confidence as the game remained deadlocked after the break, and Mbete and goalkeeper Mikki Van Sas needed to be alert to avert the danger when the ball fell to a Brighton forward in the box.
And after doing well to keep out an effort from Marcus Ifill on the break, Van Sas watched with horror as a follow-up strike from distance from Zak Emmerson went through his hands and dropped into the net.
Having failed to clear the ball for the goal, Lavia led City efforts to get an equaliser but the team were unable to find a way back into the game and instead suffered a disappointing exit.
Defeat stifles the momentum of Wilkinson's side, who had started 2022 with league wins against Burnley and Liverpool. With their cup hopes ended, their main hopes of silverware this season will be to retain the Under-18 Premier League title won last year; they currently sit second, two points behind leaders Blackburn having played a game more, in the northern division ahead of Saturday's trip to Stoke.
CITY: Van Sas, Charles (Gyabi 82), Katongo, Mbete, Lewis, Lavia, Breckin (Hamilton 46), Dickson, Mebude, O'Reilly, Borges (Barrington 63) Not used: Smith, McNamara, Galvez, Ndala.
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