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Capital One Cup: Brighton boss Sami Hyypia praises new signing Adrian Colunga

Adrian Colunga: Spanish striker has signed a two-year deal with Brighton
Image: Adrian Colunga: Spanish striker impressed for Brighton

Brighton manager Sami Hyypia praised new signing Adrian Colunga after he inspired the 4-2 extra-time win over Swindon - who ended the game with nine men.

Striker Colunga, who only arrived at the club from Getafe on Sunday, was involved in three of the away side's four goals on his debut performance.

The Spaniard first set-up Rohan Ince with a perfect pass on 10 minutes and saw the midfielder smash home a scintillating 20-yard volley past Wes Foderingham.

After Louis Thompson had bagged a deserved equaliser seconds after half-time when he latched onto a Massimo Luongo pass, Colunga stepped up his game to ensure a penalty shoot-out was avoided.

First he guided in an Adam Chicksen cross after 96 minutes before winning a penalty three minutes later which Jake Forster-Caskey calmly put away left-footed.

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Swindon 2 Brighton 4 AET - Highlights

Hyypia said of his new recruit: "He did well. It was very difficult for him as we only got international clearance at the last minute for him at the team meeting before the game.

"When a striker scores a goal it is good as it gives them confidence. It was difficult to communicate with him because he doesn't speak English, but I can probably say 'well done' in Spanish.

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"We knew Swindon were a good team but I was surprised how good they are. They played some good stuff and made it very difficult for us.

"I am very happy that we are in the next round but at the end we could have been more professional, not getting sloppy and letting them score the second one."

The Robins' task had earlier been made more difficult when ex-Seagull George Barker went off with a shoulder injury on 93 minutes with all three substitutes already used.

But the 10 men did not give up and Yaser Kasim, another former Brighton player, superbly pulled one back when he broke free of the visitors' defence to fire past Casper Ankergren.

Despite Forster-Caskey adding another from the spot in the dying seconds when Nathan Thompson was red-carded for a foul on him, manager Mark Cooper was proud of his League One team.

He said: "I thought our team were sensational and if I was a Premiership manager I would sign Yaser Kasim straight away.

"They deserve every plaudit they get. They will say what a fantastic football team Swindon have. Our players were incredible to play the football they did against a Championship side.

"You take everything as a positive. The thing that stands out for me was nearly every Brighton player came up to find me and said what a fantastic football team you have.

"I think the first half we should have been up but you need to score but their goal was fantastic."

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