Emmanuel Villa hits hat-trick to beat Brighton
November 5, 2008 | Fixtures
Brighton Hove Albion 1 Derby County 4
Derby’s Carling Cup campaign has gone from strength to strength after a delayed schedule the other month so the long awaited journey to Brighton certainly had high expectations.
After 28 minutes, Emmanuel Villa commenced his show-stopping performance with the opening goal after John Sullivan struggled to hold Przemyslaw Kazmierczak’s cross.
Nathan Ellington followed up with another after 6 minutes, connecting with Dean Leacock’s cross.
Brighton restored some confidence before the break though when Tommy Elphick headed in a consolation goal taking the half-time score to 1-2.
Brighton showed a lot of confidence throughout the second half but struggled to find an equaliser.
Instead, man of the match Emmanuel Villa took Derby 3-1 up in the 73rd minute before sealing the deal 3 minutes from time with a tidy little 6-yarder.
Derby will now host the 4th round tie against Leeds on Tuesday 11th November at Pride Park, intending on progressing to the 5th round for the first time in decades.