Published 1/5/2013 2:16:59 PM by Shane Barrow from soccermogul

Newcastle must never want to see a draw with Brighton again.  Last year they lost to Brighton in the FA Cup 4th round.  This year the draw paired the two sides in the 3rd round. Once again Brighton was up for the challenge in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

 Nobody saw this one coming as Brighton jumped ahead in the 33rd minute as Wayne Bridge cut a cross into the near post from the left corner.  Andrea Stabilin Orlandi was there with a fine finsh to the far post sending the crowd into delirium.

Frustrations grew for Newcastle after halftime as they pushed for the tying goal, but were unable.  Shola Ameobi earned his second yellow in the 63rd minute and the visitors were left to fight with only 10 men.

The dagger came in the 87th minute as a perfect pass from David Lopez put Will Hoskins in alone where he slid the ball past Newcastle's Robert Elliot and into the net.

It was a terrible ending to a challenging week for Newcastle.  They lost star striker Demba Ba to Chelsea a few days back.  Now crashing out of the FA Cup so early on cannot help the locker room confidence.  In 17 road matches this season Newcastle has yet to claim a victory.

Manchester United rallied at the death again as they have so many times this season.  Trailing West Ham 2-1 in stoppage time a perfect Ryan Giggs pass allowed Robin van Persie to tie the game forcing a replay.

Elsewhere, Chelsea opened defense of the FA Cup as Demba Ba made a stirring debut notching a pair of goals.  Southampton had jumped ahead early, but Chelsea rallied with style.  It was a welcomed win for the Blues after their horrible loss at QPR last week.

Manchester City had no problem dispatching Watford 3-0 on goals from Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and Marcos Lopes.  Clint Dempsey scored twice in Tottenham's 3-0 win over Coventry.

Print