Millwall 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 (AET)
Albion win 5-4 on penalties
Brighton and Hove Albion are through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1983 and for only the second time on their 118-year history.
The match livened up after a fairly dull first half which saw a couple of half chances fall to Beram Kayal. Millwall players Ryan Leonard and Alex Pearce had shots charged down by Shane Duffy.
Soon after the second half started a mix up between Duffy and Maty Ryan saw the latter fire the ball into the backside of that former, with Ryan having to scurry back to prevent an own goal.
Albion’s chances were few and far between then, from a corner with Glenn Murray appearing to be fouled by Jake Cooper, Alex Pearce headed the Lions in front, despite Lewis Dunk, Duffy and Dale Stephens all being on the line.
Anthony Knockaert and Davy Propper both had chances to pull Albion level but as play switched and with the hail teeming down Wallace fired in a cross and O’Brien put Millwall 2-0 up with just 11 minutes left.
Hughton brought on Jurgen Locadia and Jose Izquierdo to replace Knockaert and Kayal.
Albion pushed more men forward. Izquierdo tried to get into useful positions then almost out of the blue Solly March found space and the ball fell to Locadia who turned superbly and fired home what looked like a consolation to reduce the arrears to 2-1.
With seconds left Izquierdo found himself clear on the left but fired his shot tamely at Millwall keeper David Martin.
After 90 minutes of dubious decisions referee Chris Kavanagh gave Albion a soft free kick with seconds of injury time remaining. March floated a hopeful ball into the area. It eluded everyone except the Millwall keeper who inexplicably palmed it into his own net for 2-2.
Albion tried hard to break down a tiring Millwall with a passing game in extra time and did score but Locadia was adjudged offside.
Murray missed Albion’s first penalty of the shootout as he crashed his effort against the bar. Locadia, March and Davy Propper all scored for Albion as Mahon Romeo saw his effort saved by Maty Ryan. Dale Stephens took the all important fifth and scored then Millwall captain Steve Morison made it 4-4 and sudden death.
Brighton-born Lewis Dunk scored to put Albion 5-4 in front. Then Cooper stepped up. Almost 45 minutes earlier, he blocked off Murray at a corner. This time he skied his penalty to send the Seagulls into the semi-finals to face Manchester City at Wembley.
