Brighton booked a place in the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 4-0 home victory over League one Crawley in the first competitive game between the sides since 1992.
Scott 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 Matt O’Riley was drafted in for his debut hot on the heels of his £25million move from Scottish champions Celtic.