- Josh King scored the only goal of the game as Bournemouth beat Brighton
- It was the Norwegian frontman’s first of the campaign for the Cherries
- His manager Eddie Howe was pleased to see him get off the mark for the term
Eddie Howe was pleased to see Joshua King score his first goal of the season as Bournemouth downed Brighton for the second time in four days to advance in the Carabao Cup.
King, the Cherries’ top goalscorer last season, came off the bench to settle the tie in extra-time, combining well with fellow substitute Marc Pugh to seal a 1-0 win.
Bournemouth had come from behind to beat Chris Hughton’s side on Friday night to pick up their first Premier League points of the campaign but with both sides making a combined total of 19 changes, this was a different affair.
Josh King (left) was the matchwinner for Bournemouth against Brighton on Tuesday
Jermain Defoe scored his first of the season in that 2-1 success and, with the veteran England forward rested here, King proved to be the match-winner to leave Howe happy.
‘Josh is off the mark now and Jermain Defoe got off the mark on Friday,’ he said.
‘That’s good for them and good for us. Confidence is important for your strikers. It was a strange game, it was very similar in patterns to the game on Friday night where we dominated the ball.
‘I thought we had our fluency and rhythm really going, our finishing could have been more clinical. We had to be patient. Very much so, we always take these games seriously. We have always had mixed results.’
Brighton host fellow promoted side Newcastle on Sunday as Hughton welcomes one of his former sides to the south coast.
Eddie Howe was delighted to see his striker get off the mark for the new campaign
The Seagulls boss was pleased to give a number of fringe players a good run out, with only Liam Rosenior retaining his place from Friday’s defeat.
‘When we went into the game I knew we would get a spirited performance,’ he said.
‘We went in with a different system, two kids in centre-midfield and one that has not even been involved in a first-team squad before.
‘It was going to be about getting as many positives out of the game as we could. We knew we’d have to defend well and for large period of the game we did that.
‘We are lucky that we have an extra day given that we play Sunday, some of these players have played themselves into contention.’