Joao Pedro at the double as Brighton made to battle for win at Stoke
FA Cup
Stoke City 2 (Jan Paul van Hecke 16' (OG), Baker 63' (P))
Brighton 4 (Estupinan 45+6', Dunk 52', Pedro 71', 80')
Joao Pedro scored twice late on as Brighton avoided an FA Cup upset at Championship side Stoke with a 4-2 comeback win.
The hosts – who had not beaten top-flight opposition in the competition since they reached the final in 2011 – had held the lead for 35 first-half minutes courtesy of Jan Paul Van Hecke’s own goal, after which Steven Schumacher’s team were the better side.
However, Brighton’s Ecuador left-back Pervis Estupinan let fly from 20 yards in the final minute of six added on before the interval and captain Lewis Dunk headed last season’s semi-finalists ahead just after the break.
Dunk’s raised arm conceded the penalty from which Lewis Baker equalised and it needed Pedro’s 14th and 15th goals of the season to see the Premier League team through in the final 19 minutes.
Schumacher is only five matches into his reign in the Potteries and this was his first defeat – although he has had four draws – but the way his players took the game to opponents 32 places above them offers hope for the 19th-placed second-tier club.
After Pedro’s early deflected shot looped just wide of the post the momentum was all Stoke’s with Mehdi Leris forcing the first save from Bart Verbruggen, one of four changes made by Roberto De Zerbi.
It was from that right-hand channel that Stoke took the lead as Dunk’s intended pass for Pedro was intercepted by Ki-Jana Hoever, stepping out from centre-back, and he slid in South Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho, whose low cross was turned in by Van Hecke.
The 21-year-old Hoever, performing a hybrid role as the third centre-back stepping into midfield, was at the heart of all Stoke’s
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