Brighton 2-0 Swansea: Pantomime villain Aaron Connolly shows why Graham Potter kept faith in striker

If it’s Wednesday it must be the League Cup. Alas no extended highlights on Sportsnight With Coleman.

But a cup is a cup and despite a very much second string Albion taking the field against Championship side Swansea, the albeit small crowd of 8,838 at the Amex were treated to an entertaining 90 minutes.

With his off field antics of the last 12 months or so turning him into very much the Albion pantomime villain, Aaron Connolly appeared to rub the rusty lamp and become a genie.

A first half brace, with the hat-trick strike narrowly wide, Connolly had the look of a repentant thief at the gates of heaven, as his goals took the Albon into the fourth round of a competition that despite seeing better days, is still very close to the hearts of genuine football fans.

Certainly far more positives than negatives, including a 45 minute run out for the returning Tariq Lamptey, a brief cameo from another former bad boy Jurgen Locadia, but perhaps most significantly 90 minutes under the belt of a number of young potential Albion stars of the future.

Returning to the subject of genuine fans, they were once young football fans, with only the East and West open for the game, if the balls and the old velvet bag provide yet another Amex fixture, why not fill the thousands of empty blue plastic seats with complementary tickets for local school children, potentially the next generation of the Albion faithful?