Ruthless Albion punish Crawley to progress

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Simon Adingra, Jeremy Sarmiento, Adam Webster and Mark O'Mahony in 4-0 Carabao Cup victory.

2024-08-27T21:30+01:00

Jeremy Sarmiento marked his first start of the campaign with a goal. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion’s quality in front of goal eventually overwhelmed Crawley as Fabian Hurzeler’s impressive start as head coach continued with a third win out of three and a place in the last 32 of the Carabao Cup.

Crawley carved out some good chances but couldn’t finish and Albion showed the League One side how it was done. Simon Adingra scored his second goal of the season on the half-hour and Jeremy Sarmiento got his first for the club two minutes into the second half.

Adam Webster and substitute Mark O’Mahony – with the first goal of his senior career – netted in the last ten minutes while the only disappointment for Albion was an injury to Matt O’Riley.

His debut lasted just six minutes after he was flattened by a badly-timed challenge from Crawley captain Jay Williams and had to be helped off. Another Williams’ tackle, this time on Julio Enciso, a few minutes later earned him a yellow but he was fortunate to still be on the pitch.

Matt O'Riley's night came to a premature end after he was on the receiving end of a poor tackle. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Julio Enciso had gone close with a 20-yarder which was just wide of the right-hand post but the visitors, backed by more than 3,000 noisy fans, were more threatening with Bart Verbruggen making decent saves to dent Ronan Darcy and Josh Flint, who then directed a free header from a free-kick wide as another chance went begging for the visitors.

They were made to pay on 30 minutes. Carlos Baleba made a powerful run forward and slipped in Adingra, cutting in from the left. Keeper Jojo Wollacott got a hand to his shot but not enough to stop it going in.

Albion doubled their lead with a brilliant goal two minutes after the break. Enciso’s quick feet and sensational skill took him away from Armando Quitirna down the left and he burst into the box before playing the ball to Sarmiento. The Ecuadorian still had a lot to do, but did it with aplomb as he shifted it onto his left foot and lashed it into the roof of the net.

Simon Adingra scored his second goal of the season with the opener against Crawley. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Sarmiento was denied a second by a combination of Toby Mullarkey and Charlie Barker, son of ex-Albion striker Richie, when they blocked his shot on the line but Reds went close again with a glancing header by Armando Quitirna which bounced just wide. Sub Ade Adeyemo then pounced after dispossessing Tariq Lamptey but dragged his shot across the face of goal before Imari Samuels was caught on the ball but Darcy’s inviting cross eluded two of his teammates, who would have had a tap-in.

A bit of South American flair. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Again, Albion demonstrated their ruthlessness in front of goal by scoring two more goals in the space of three minutes. Webster met Yasin Ayari’s corner with a powerful header past Wollacott on 81 minutes before O’Mahony robbed a defender and drove the ball home for his first senior goal to make it 4-0. Crawley’s evening took another turn for the worse when substitute Jack Roles was shown a straight red for a reckless foul on Ayari in stoppage time.

Albion: Verbruggen, Lamptey (Offiah 80), Igor, Webster, Samuels (Estupinan 70), Adingra, Baleba, Sarmiento (Weir 78), Ayari, O’Riley (O’Mahony 8), Enciso (Peupion 70).