Gomez scores four in sensational Brighton rout
Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gomez scored four, including a 24-minute first-half hat-trick, as Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion thumped third tier Barnsley 6-0 at Oakwell to reach the fourth round of the Carabao Cup for the fifth time in six seasons.
Gomez was off the mark in the ninth minute with a close range finish before making it a brace on 21 minutes with a first-time rocket off his right foot.
But that was nothing compared to the goal that secured his hat-trick as he ran on to a ball that was headed into his path from more than 30 yards out and hit another sizzling strike past the despairing dive of Murphy Joseph Mahoney Coope in the Barnsley goal just after the half-hour mark.
Gomez scored his fourth on 67 minutes when he finished a slick Brighton move with a near-post finish from inside the box before Harry Howell and Yasin Ayari completed the rout with two more sensational strikes to leave Barnsley floored and well and truly out of the competition.
Gomez is the first player to score four goals away from home in a League Cup match since Julio Baptista for Arsenal against Liverpool at Anfield in January 2007.
After beating Oxford United 6-0 in round two, Brighton has become the first team in League Cup history to win consecutive matches in the competition by a margin of six or more goals.
