Brighton booked their place in the third round of the Carabao Cup but Fabian Hurzeler has slammed the “ridiculous” foul that injured new signing Matt O’Riley.
Midfielder O’Riley was forced off less than 10 minutes into his debut following his move from Celtic following a crunching tackle from the unpunished Jay Williams, and will now undergo a scan on Wednesday.
Brighton shook off the early injury blow, though, to comfortably dispatch Crawley in a 4-0 win – but O’Riley’s overshadowed the victory for Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler.
He said: “I think it was a really tough game. I was not happy with the performance. We can play better but you have to win tough, dirty games. It was a tough challenge.
“Ridiculous foul. It has nothing to do with football. This situation, it changed the game as afterwards it was emotional. I hope it is not so bad. I think it is easy to apologise, in the end we can’t fix the player.
“It’s tough to deal with it but it’s part of football. It shouldn’t be, fouls like this. This is not the way we should behave on the pitch.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was left furious by the injury to new signing O’Riley following the challenge by Williams
Crawley boss Scott Lindsey apologised for Williams’ tackle on O’Riley.
He said: “Maybe we were a bit aggressive, maybe the referee missed it [the challenge] and I would like to apologise.
“I wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt. We are both passionate about the game and we wish Brighton all the best in the next round.”
How Brighton shook off O’Riley injury to ease past Crawley
Lindsey’s Red Devils put up a brave fight and gave a fine account of themselves against a much-changed Seagulls side.
Goals from Simon Adingra and Jeremy Sarmiento put Brighton in charge, and they scored twice more in the space of two minutes through Adam Webster and Mark O’Mahony before Crawley substitute Jack Roles was shown a straight red card in the last minute.
Brighton, fresh from beating Manchester United for the fifth time in six Premier League games, fielded a completely different starting line-up.
Boss Fabian Hurzeler insisted that preparation would be as for a Premier League game, and midfielder O’Riley was drafted in for his debut.
O’Riley is injured on his Brighton debut
Ronan Darcy had the ball in the net for Crawley but was in an offside position as the game began with Crawley winning the 50-50 balls.
The visitors threatened when Darcy saw a swerving shot parried by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen before Josh Flint raced through and had a goalbound shot blocked.
But the Seagulls broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 31st minute when Carlos Baleba fed Adingra and although ‘keeper Jojo Wollacott made a partial block from the striker’s shot, the ball spun into the corner of the net.
Brighton doubled their lead on the counter attack only three minutes after the restart, with Sarmiento giving Wollacott no chance with a left-footed finish after good play by Julio Enciso.
Enciso should have done better when his tame shot was deflected for a corner after a powerful run by defender Tariq Lamptey. Crawley boss Lindsey made a triple substitution just before the hour which included skipper Williams being replaced by Charlie Barker.
Sarmiento looked set to score again after 62 minutes but his goalbound shot was blocked on the line before Junior Quitirna headed a good chance wide at the other end.
Crawley continued to create clear-cut opportunities and substitute Ade Adeyemo put an angled shot wide before Panutche Camara missed Darcy’s cross sliding in at the far post.
The League One side again posed a threat when substitute Roles let fly with a fierce shot from the edge of the area and keeper Verbruggen was forced into a good save.
But Brighton wrapped up victory by scoring twice in the space of two minutes, captain Webster heading a third before O’Mahony stroked home from 12 yards four minutes from time.
The tie ended controversially with midfielder Roles being shown a red card by referee Alex Chilowicz for bringing down Yasin Ayari.
