Millwall vs Brighton result: Jake Cooper misses penalty in sudden-death shootout to send Seagulls to Wembley
Millwall 2-2 Brighton (Brighton win 5-4 on penalites): Mathew Ryan proves Brighton’s hero after clawing them back from the brink in the shootout but opposite number David Martin will rue a late error that cost Millwall their trip to Wembley
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Your support makes all the difference.Every club that wins the FA Cup can point to a game, perhaps a moment, when they could have gone out of the competition. If Brighton end up hoisting the trophy, this was the game and there was more than one moment.
They were seconds from elimination when substitute Solly March’s free kick deceived Millwall goalkeeper David Martin to send the match into extra-time. And when top scorer Glenn Murray hit the crossbar with the first kick in the penalty shoot-out, they looked on the way out again.
But Mathew Ryan saved Millwall’s fourth kick, taken by Mahlon Romeo, and in sudden death Millwall defender Jake Cooper blasted the ball high into the Brighton end to send the Seagulls into the semi-finals for only the second time in their history.
It was hard on the Championship club, who had led 2-0 with two minutes left and finished the game with ten men after the late dismissal of Shane Ferguson as fatigue and frustration took hold.
They went into this match having won their previous five FA Cup home matches against Premier League clubs and Brighton, 25 league places above the London side, could have had few complaints if they had been added to the list that includes Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Watford, Leicester and Everton, who succumbed here in this season’s fourth round.
The Den, raucous and raw even when two-thirds-full for Championship matches, took its time to become as passionate as it was packed. That was partly a reaction to a largely soporific first half in which Brighton looked the better side without ever imposing their quality on the match.
But when Millwall realised they had little to fear and began to take the game to the visitors, the decibel level increased.
Brighton wobbled when Ryan hit an attempted clearance against Shane Duffy’s backside early in the second half and the ball looped back towards the empty net. The relieved Ryan was just able to retrieve the ball before Lee Gregory could pounce.
Rain, then sleet, began to lash down into the Brighton defenders’ faces as the hour approached, but they still came close to taking the lead when Beram Kayal sent Martin sprawling to his left with a curling shot from 20 yards, Murray unable to reach the rebound.
But Ryan did even better when Gregory’s pass sent Jed Wallace through, the goalkeeper blocking the Millwall man’s shot. Now Millwall were making chances. Shaun Williams shot straight at Ryan from 18 yards and the goalkeeper was smartly off his line again to smother when Ryan Leonard slipped Gregory through on the left.
A goal was coming and it arrived on 69 minutes when defender Alex Pearce found himself unmarked at Shaun Williams’ corner and he powered his header past a knot of Brighton players on the goalline. Brighton complained that Murray, who should have been marking Pearce, was brought down but with no VAR available, their protests were in vain.
After 79 minutes it was 2-0. Wallace dribbled through Bernardo as if the Brazilian left-back had suddenly dematerialised and his low cross was nudged home by Aiden O’Brien. That, surely, was that and the home fans sang: ‘Manchester City, we’re coming for you.’
But Jurgen Locadia, also on as a substitute, pulled one back with a superb shot on the turn with three minutes remaining and just when it looked as though Brighton had left it too late to show any top-flight quality, referee Chris Kavanagh awarded them a free kick on the right. March’s effort looked suspiciously like an over-hit cross rather than a shot but Martin could not decide whether to leave it or catch it and, in the end could only help the ball into the net.
Instead of going for the jugular against shattered opponents, Brighton sank back into their first-half approach. Millwall had made two substitutions, taking off Wallace and Gregory, after the board had been held up and were now left without their two best attackers, and sat back for the most part. But they almost came up with a third goal when Ryan parried James Meredith’s shot to Romeo only for the right back to volley over the crossbar.
Sadly for Romeo, it was only to get worse for him in the shootout.
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