Denis Undav opens his goal account as Brighton’s youngsters cash in

It was business as usual for Brighton & Hove Albion as they coasted into the third round of the Carabao Cup after easing past Forest Green Rovers courtesy of first-half goals by Deniz Undav and Steven Alzate and a stoppage-time strike by Evan Ferguson. Victory for Graham Potter’s side maintained their glistening start to the season and earned them a trip to Arsenal. For the 1,000-plus Brighton supporters housed in the away terrace, this was a look into the future with eight teenagers featuring on the night as Potter gave six players their full debuts.

At the final whistle Potter and Ian Burchnall shook hands, hugged and no doubt cast their minds back to their first meeting as rookie managers, when the pair were at the centre of student rivalries coaching university teams part-time in Leeds. Before kick-off Forest Green manager Burchnall gave Potter and his longstanding assistant, Billy Reid, whose apartment Burchnall moved into after succeeding Potter at Ostersund in Sweden, and first-team coach, Bjorn Hamberg, a warm embrace. “I spoke to Graham about Evan Ferguson over the summer and he’s a top player,” Burchnall said.

The last time the pair faced each other was when Burchnall took his Viking team to Ostersund, 600km north of Stockholm, for a friendly. This was a contrasting backdrop on a balmy evening on an organic pitch in the Cotswolds at a stadium surrounded by rolling hills. Described by Fifa as the greenest club in the world, Forest Green pride themselves on sustainability and are recognised as carbon neutral by the United Nations.

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Brighton, as they did successfully in this competition at Cardiff last season, dissected