Hurzeler: Togetherness key to FA Cup victory

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Head coach reflects on 2-1 win over Manchester United.

Bruce Talbot

2026-01-11T19:30+00:00

Fabian Hurzeler greets United's interim head coach Darren Fletcher before kick-off. 📷James Boardman

Fabian Hurzeler praised the togetherness of his squad after they reached the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 victory over Manchester United.

Hurzeler made six changes at Old Trafford but his much-changed team deserved to progress thanks to goals from Brajan Gruda and Danny Welbeck.

He said, “The players who came in deserved to play and they showed what they are capable of doing. We have shown a great deal of togetherness and I think it’s good to know that there are always players who can come in and make a difference. We will need everyone and for the players who came in it was an opportunity and they did really good.”

Hurzeler also praised Albion’s travelling fans who were making their second visit in four days to Manchester.

Brajan Gruda leads the celebrations after Albion's 2-1 win. 📷James Boardman

“I’m very happy for the fans because they always give us great support. They had to travel twice to Manchester and it's not the closest place for us so I'm really happy for them, they spend a lot of money and time to support us. Hopefully they have a nice Sunday.”

On the game itself, Hurzeler felt Albion recovered well after Jason Steele made two important early saves.

“We were a bit lucky not to concede a goal in the first minutes but then we scored a nice goal and brought some calmness into our game. In the second half we controlled the game better.

“We have ambitions in the FA Cup but it’s do or die and we will have to be at our highest level whoever we play in the next round. Let’s see how far we can go. We always have the belief to compete with the best teams. You need to have this if you want to achieve something and we are a club with ambition.”