Brighton & Hove Albion under-18s coach Ian Buckman was delighted with the patience shown by his young charges as they progressed into the FA Youth Cup fifth round proper.
The Seagulls beat Cambridge United 2-0 at the Amex under the floodlights on Friday evening, courtesy of second-half goals from Aaron Connolly and Danny Cashman.
Albion applied the pressure during the first half but could not break the deadlock until Connolly curled a wonderful effort beyond Finley Iron after 72 minutes.
And the result was certain five minutes later when substitute Cashman broke into the penalty area and found the back of the net with a first-time finish from the impressive Archie Davies’ cross.
“I’m very pleased,” said Buckman, whose side will now travel to Stoke City in the fifth round. “We were expecting a tough game and it was certainly that. They’re a good side and we knew they’d be well organised.
“We didn’t move the ball quick enough in the first half and we needed to make them work harder to contain us. So we came out second half, tried to play that bit quicker and stretch the game.
“We started to open up some more space and that allowed us to create some more chances. They’re a good side, so we had to remain patient and disciplined in what we did.
“It was important to keep our defensive discipline. We felt that if we could keep moving the ball well, we’d get the chances and thankfully we did.”
Elsewhere on Friday evening, Middlesbrough earned themselves a fifth-round showdown with either Leicester City or Carlisle after edging out Fulham 2-1 in Bishop Auckland.
The Cottagers started out the stronger side – with Michael Elstone, Jerome Opoku and Steven Sessegnon all squandering chances – but Jack Lambert found the net against the run of play after 20 minutes by heading home Patrick Reading’s cross.
Jon Thorsteinsson equalised shortly after the break for Fulham from the spot after Elstone was felled, but just five minutes later up popped Tyrone O’Neill to fire home low what proved to be the winner from 12 yards out – with Fulham stopper Zak Hemming brilliantly denying Thorsteinsson late on.
