In the EFL Cup second round match played on August 28th, Brighton easily defeated Crawley with a score of 4-0 in Beijing time. However, the victory came with a hint of a shadow as the team's new signing O'Reilly left the field early in the game due to an injury, sparking deep concern and anger from manager Hülzeler.
O'Reilly, the 23-year-old Danish international, made his debut after joining Brighton. However, his appearance was unusually short-lived, and after just nine minutes he was put on the ground by a vicious scoop from Crawley captain Jay Williams, and was then forced to leave the field as his ankle was unable to bear the weight. It was a sight to behold for everyone in attendance and for the Brighton fans.
In a post-game interview, Hürtzler expressed concern about O'Reilly's injury. "Things don't look too good," he said bluntly, "I just talked to him when he came off the field and his ankle wasn't able to bear weight at all. We'll be arranging scans and tests as soon as we can to determine the specifics of the injury. I'm hoping to get an answer tomorrow."
Schultzler expressed understanding for O'Reilly's frustration at the injury. "Players know their physical condition best, so he didn't react well." He explained, "Immediately after being fouled, he felt the pain and tried to get up and continue the game, but in the end he couldn't hold on. It was a tough situation for us because O'Reilly is a very important player."
Meanwhile, Hülzeler also expressed strong anger at the shoveling that led to O'Reilly's injury. "It doesn't belong in soccer," he said angrily, "You can't shovel the ball like that, it was a move that could have led to a serious injury to another player. I think the referee should have shown a red card for it, but unfortunately he didn't. It caused the players on the pitch to become more and more agitated and the situation became very tense."
Despite being unhappy with the referee's call, Hülzeler also showed a professional attitude. "It's the referee's decision and we have to accept it." He said, "But we will also reflect this issue to the relevant authorities and hopefully we will be able to reduce the occurrence of such dangerous actions in the future. For Brighton, we will continue to focus on the game itself and try to bring more victories to our fans."
