Ferguson's two goals helps Brighton ease past Grimsby
Brighton and Hove Albion's Evan Ferguson (right) celebrates scoring their side's third goal.
THE halo surrounding Evan Ferguson is shining more brightly than ever following the two goals which helped Brighton to progress to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
The Bettystown-born teenager possesses a remarkable calmness in front of goal, a quality he demonstrated with two relaxed finishes in the 5-0 quarter-final victory over League Two Grimsby Town.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi understands the talent that flows through the ice-cold veins of the 18-year-old, but he was at pains afterwards to point out Ferguson’s room for improvement.
De Zerbi said: “Ferguson is a special striker. I am working with my staff to improve him to become not only a number nine and a striker, but also to improve him in terms of understanding the play, to receive the ball or to attack the space and not only one of those things.
“To complete the player. He’s a very good guy and if you work with a clever guy, it’s nice because he understands exactly and he improves day by day.
“His quality is to score goals but in the Premier League and at the highest level, a level at which he can arrive, it’s not enough to score goals.
“You have to understand the play, you have to play like a midfielder when you are far from the goal and the area and like a striker in the last 20 metres because we need Ferguson and (Danny) Welbeck to work like a number 10, not only a number nine.” With Brighton leading 1-0 through a sixth-0minute Deniz Undav goal, poached after Grimsby keeper Max Crocombe had spilled a Moises Caicedo shot into the striker’s path, there remained an element of uncertainty about the outcome of the tie at half-time.
Grimsby hadn’t fashioned a single effort on the Brighton goal, but they had beaten five sides from a higher division on their run to the quarter-finals and they still had a puncher’s chance.
Ferguson extinguished all hope with two sumptuous strikes early in the second half which were made to look ridiculously easy.
First, he swivelled on an Alexis Mac Allister clipped pass, controlling the ball as he turned and passing it into the far corner of the net beyond a helpless Crocombe.
Then, he read a move between Mac Allister and Undav, sprinting through a gap to receive the latter’s pass and placing an equally assured shot into the opposite bottom corner.
His reward was to be taken off immediately by Zerbi, initially to a chorus of boos from the Brighton fans who wanted to see the precocious teenager complete a first career hat-trick, but then to a rousing ovation.
Ferguson said: “The first goal was more an instinct. It just came to me and I tried to swivel around and get the best shot off. I was lucky it went in.
"It's been unbelievable, playing in my first season here. Credit to the lads, they've been good to me and have encouraged me when I've played.
“The win was what we were looking for. We obviously wanted to go to Wembley so we had to get to the semi-finals.
“It wasn’t an easy game because you have to break down teams like that who sit off. We’ve got the hope and the desire to get to Europe so that’s our ambition and if we can keep on going and winning games, we could get there."
A Solly March header and a Kaoru Mitoma shot that deflected in completed the scoring, while the 4,500 Grimsby fans left an abiding impression on the afternoon, singing and applauding their players for 10 minutes after the final whistle.
Sanchez; Gross, Webster, Dunk (van Hecke 77’ ), Estupinan (Colwill 46’); March, Caicedo, Mac Allister (Ayari 77’), Mitoma; Undav (Sarmiento 71’), Ferguson (Welbeck 71’),
: Steele, Enciso, Veltman, Buonanotte
Crocombe; Efete, Smith, Waterfall, Maher, Driscoll-Glennon; Clifton (Morris 71’), Green (Hunt 46’), Holohan (Khouri 83’), Khan (Taylor 71’); Orsi (McAtee 46’)
: Battersby, Pearson, Amos, Emmanuel
: Jarred Gillett
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