Middlesbrough 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 5
Two goals from World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister helped Albion into the fourth round of the FA Cup at Boro today (Saturday 7 January).
He was one of seven players to have scored nine goals on the road this week as head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls continue to show their attacking flair.
Pacal Gross, who grabbed the fourth goal at Everton in midweek, opened the scoring at the Riverside Stadium.
Gross followed up after goalkeeper Zach Steffen saved a close-range shot from Solly March in the eighth minute.
Boro broke back within five minutes. Chuba Akpom rose to meet a cross from Ryan Giles which hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net off Jason Steele as he dived to his left.
With the half hour approaching, Solly March crossed wide to Kaoru Mitoma on the left. He played the ball down, sending it bouncing goalwards over Steffen.
Adam Lallana raced to the far post and appeared to help the ball into the net with his chest – as if just to be sure.
Mac Allister replaced Lallana at half-time and nabbed the first of his brace 13 minutes later when he flicked a solid pass from Pervis Estupinan to make it 3-1.
With 10 minutes left, Mac Allister was well placed to turn in a short low cross from Gross. It came not long after a direct free-kick which the Argentina international whipped just wide.
Fellow sub Deniz Undav added a late fifth, picking up a pass from March just inside the box and finishing with a confident strike to cap Boro’s misery.
De Zerbi’s Seagulls again looked less inhibited in front of goal and more willing to have a stab at it, while enjoying most of the possession.
They contained the counter-attacks, with 19-year-old Levi Colwill and 22-year-old Jan Paul van Hecke in the heart of defence flanked by Estupinan and Tariq Lamptey.
Afterwards, Boro manager Michael Carrick said: “I knew before the game how good they are.
“We’ve obviously watched a lot of them and those who hadn’t seen much of them maybe didn’t appreciate how good they have become at the moment so we knew who we were up against.
“For long spells in the game I thought we did really well, actually, and we still felt and looked like we had a threat in the first half, especially on the break.”
But in the second half Albion seemed to step up a gear as they cruised from a 2-1 lead to make it 5-1 by the final whistle.
The draw for the fourth round is due to take place shortly after 4pm tomorrow before Manchester City host last year’s FA Cup runners up Chelsea.
