Brighton hammer ten man Sheffield United

Mason Holgate’s early red card for a horrible tackle on Kaoru Mitoma was followed by yet another demolition of Sheffield United at Bramall Lane as Brighton and Hove Albion moved back into the top seven with a 5-0 win. 

LINEUPS 

SHU XI: Foderingham; Bogle, Holgate, Ahmedhodzic*, Robinson, Larouci; Osborn, Hamer, Vinicius Souza, McAtee; Osula     

SHU SUBS: Grbic, Trusty, Brooks, Arblaster, Davies, Norwood, Blacker, Brewster, McBurnie

BRI XI: Verbruggen; Van Hecke, Dunk*, Webster; Gross, Buonanotte, Gilmour, Lamptey; Adingra, Welbeck, Mitoma

BRI SUBS: Steele, Igor Julio, Veltman, Estupinan, Baleba, Moder, Ansu Fati, Baker-Boaitey, Ferguson

Action: Brighton were dominant at Bramall Lane from the off with Simon Adingra, fresh from winning the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast, setting up Danny Welbeck but the Englishman had his effort saved by Wes Foderingham.

Within 15 minutes, The Blades were reduced to ten men as a result of a genuinely horror tackle from Mason Holgate on Kaoru Mitoma, launching into the Japanese international with studs showing and connecting with Mitoma’s knee.

Brighton continued to pressurise and generally dominate proceedings, especially with their man advantage, and very nearly broke the deadlock via both Facundo Buonanotte and Danny Welbeck tried to reach a curling Lewis Dunk cross.

From a corner that resulted from that attack, Brighton did take the lead via Buonanotte. Pascal Gross’ delivery was headed across goal by Dunk, glanced on by Adam Webster and then eventually put into the net by the young Argentine.

Within just a few moments of that, Brighton doubled their lead. Gross, in acres of space, found Mitoma at the back post on the left-hand side. He had an effort stopped by Foderingham but Welbeck was there to put in the rebound.

The visitors began to run rampant against the ten men of United with both Kaoru Mitoma and Pascal Gross having efforts cleared off the line in quick succession after Brighton had gone 2-0 up.

Then we had a moment of controversy just before half-time as Sheffield United believed they had got back into the match. After a burst down the left from James McAtee, the hosts won a corner, which was eventually whipped in and subject to some almost comical pinball in the Brighton box before Ben Osborn hooked in. 

Initially disallowed for one of a number of reasons, we had a lengthy VAR check to confirm the score would remain 2-0 with the view that it was given for offside, albeit that wouldn’t make sense as it had come off a Brighton man, but there was also likely a foul and definitely a handball anyway in the immediate build-up.

Normal service resumed in first-half stoppage-time with Foderingham once again denying a goal-bound effort, this time a powerful header by Dunk from another Pascal Gross corner. 

Brighton continued to dominate proceedings and had a couple of near misses early on in the second-half when Anel Ahmedhodzic nearly sliced into his own net before Jan Paul van Hecke had a header aimed straight at Foderingham.

The visitors did eventually notch a third and it was to be an own goal, too. Kaoru Mitoma whipped a cross into the box, which Jack Robinson could only divert through the legs of Foderingham.

Within a couple of minutes of that, Pascal Gross produced a cross for Simon Adingra to angle a volley into the near post and give Brighton four on the day, piling on the misery for the hosts.

Sheffield United’s rout was not yet complete, though, and they conceded their fifth of the day and 65th of the season on 85-minute mark when Ansu Fati found Adingra in the box and his deflected effort looped over Foderingham.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&quot;He is gonna be a star this kid&quot; 🌟<br><br>Jamie Redknapp on Simon Adingra 🇨🇮 <a href="https://t.co/u7sy9AhAlL">pic.twitter.com/u7sy9AhAlL</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1759213472645034126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The big picture: Sheffield United are destined for the Championship and their goals conceded record is atrocious, they remain rock-bottom and adrift, despite winning at Luton Town last weekend. Brighton’s hammering of The Blades means that The Seagulls have moved themselves back above Newcastle and into the top seven and UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying spots. 

Man of the match: Kaoru Mitoma. Despite not notching for the visitors, the Japan winger, recently back from the AFC Asian Cup, was exceptional down the left and ran amok times. 

EVENTS

Kick-off

’13 | RED CARD: Holgate

’20 | GOAL: Buonanotte (0-1)

’24 | GOAL: Welbeck (0-2)

’44 | DISALLOWED: Osborn

Half-time

’75 | GOAL: Robinson [og] (0-3)

’78 | GOAL: Adingra (0-4)

’85 | GOAL: Adingra (0-5)

Full-time