​*Conor Hourihane scored his third Carabao Cup goal of the season against Brighton to help send Aston Villa into the fourth round.*

Republic of Ireland midfielder Hourihane produced a crisp finish to double Villa’s lead after Spanish forward Jota had opened the scoring.

Brighton, who made 11 changes, pulled a goal back through Haydn Roberts, 17, in the all-Premier League clash.
Substitute Jack Grealish sealed Villa’s passage by adding a third goal.

Grealish hit a powerful half-volley to earn Villa their first win since 27 August, teeing up a fourth-round home tie with West Midlands rivals Wolves.

Brighton boss Graham Potter opted to hand senior debuts to seven academy players from the start, including goalscorer Roberts.
Substitutes Ryan Longman, Romaric Yapi and Jack Spong eventually took that total to 10.

Yet Brighton’s youthful starting line-up, with an average age of just over 21, were outclassed for much of the tie.

Trailing 2-0, the hosts were unfortunate not to halve the deficit when Aaron Connolly struck the bar just before the break.
By then Villa were in control, Jota scoring his first goal since a summer move from neighbours Birmingham before Hourihane’s emphatic finish made it 2-0.

Roberts did give the hosts hope after nodding home from a corner only for Grealish to seal victory for the visitors.

*Brighton boss Graham Potter, on whether he could have fielded a more experienced side:*”Not really, not with the situation we’ve got - a couple of injuries, a couple of lads sick as well.

“So we’re just going through that little phase at the moment.

“In the last round we were able to do a bit more experience and it would have been preferable to have a couple more around but it wasn’t to be at this stage.

“A couple were close but it just wasn’t worth the risk really.

“It was a spirited performance from our boys, they gave everything, up against a quality team that deserved to go through.”

*Aston Villa boss Dean Smith:* “As a Villa supporter, I’ve seen teams that have come unstuck in situations like that, whether it’s a youthful team or a lower-league team.

“The words I said to them were attitude, application and teamwork and I thought we got that in abundance tonight and they have done it right.

“This football club has got a very proud history in all cup competitions - we’ve won this five times, we’ve won the FA Cup seven times.

“You’ve seen the numbers that have travelled down from Birmingham and they deserve our utmost respect - and we’ve given it that tonight.”