Manchester United winger Shea Lacey was sent off during his Old Trafford debut in the FA Cup against Brighton on the weekend.
Manchester United’s FA Cup campaign came to an end in the third round on Sunday afternoon, as Brighton earned a 2–1 victory at Old Trafford.
The visitors started on the front foot and opened the scoring early, with Brajan Gruda reacting quickest after Lisandro Martínez had initially cleared the ball off the line. Brighton continued to apply pressure and almost doubled their lead soon after, but Danny Welbeck failed to capitalise on a misplaced pass from Senne Lammens.
United created chances of their own through Diogo Dalot and Benjamin Šeško, though they went into the break a goal behind. Brighton strengthened their grip on the match in the second half, Welbeck striking decisively with 25 minutes remaining to make it 2–0.
A late push from United saw Šeško pull one back, raising hopes of a comeback, but Brighton held firm. Any remaining chance of recovery faded when substitute Shea Lacey was sent off for a second booking late on, enabling the visitors to close out the win and progress to the next round.
United receive Shea Lacey ban update
Lacey, 18, was applauded off the Old Trafford pitch after his controversial sending off. While he threw the ball to the ground in frustration, which is a booking in the rulebook, many believed that experienced referee Simon Hooper should have handled the situation differently.
Nevertheless, the teenager was sent off and it is actually a shame as he has been one of United’s brightest players in the last two games.
Despite being sent off in a domestic cup competition, rules state that his ban will follow into Premier League fixtures, meaning he will be unavailable for selection against Manchester City.
The youngster will be back for the clash against Arsenal later this month and he will be hoping to get more opportunities to impress.
He apologised for being sent off on his social media after the game, writing the following statement: “I want to apologise to all of my teammates staff and the fans. I let everybody down tonight I shouldn’t let my emotions get the better of me I will do everything I can to make this right.”
Mbeumo and Amad return for City clash
Fortunately for United, they will have Amad and Bryan Mbeumo back available for the clash against City this coming weekend.
Both players have been knocked out of AFCON and United have missed their quality in the final third. Other players have failed to step up in their absence.
It would not be surprising if both of them started against City, with Matheus Cunha being dropped to the bench after some underwhelming displays.
Šeško will continue to start through the middle after netting three goals in the last two fixtures under Darren Fletcher.
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