Percy Tau during an FA Cup third round clash against Newport County.

South African attacker Percy Tau made an impressive cameo off the bench as Brighton & Hove Albion beat Newport County 4-3 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 after regulation time in the third round of the FA Cup.

Solly March scored what seemed to be the match-winner as he curled a left-footed effort beyond Newport goalkeeper Tom King as the clock moved into the 90th minute.

With seconds left of the four minutes of additional time a gaffe by Brighton back-up goalkeeper Jason Steele who completely miscued an attempted punch resulted in an own goal by defender Adam Webster.

The good news for South African fans is that they got to see an extra 30 minutes of Tau as the game went into extra-time.

Brighton looked the most likely to score with make-shift striker Lewis Dunk coming closest with first a glancing header and a shot from range that narrowly missed the target.

With five minutes left Tau went close after Neal Maupay laid it off in the area with Tau unable to keep his effort down as his right-foot effort went over the bar.

With the contest moving to a penalty shoot-out Brighton goalkeeper Steele made amends for his earlier mistake by saving the first two Newport penalties on his way to saving an incredible four from the spot.

Steele indeed showed nerves of steel as Brighton advanced on penalties after sudden death.

From a South African perspective a round-up of Tau’s display saw the Bafana Bafana international make an impressive debut with a few attempts at goal and nearly providing a couple of assists.

The draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup takes place on Monday at 21:10 SA time.

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