Preston North End 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 2 - Lilywhites bow out of the Carabao Cup and miss out on meeting Manchester United

Two second-half goals from the visitors sunk North End who weren't able to muster any sort of response to falling behind.

They had been very much in the game in the first half, Jayden Stockley seeing a shot saved by Albion goalkeeper Jason Steele and then Patrick Bauer sent a header against the bar.

But once Brighton took a 57th minute lead through Alireza Jahanbakhsh, there was only going to be one winner.

PNE were stifled going forward by the visitors' midfield and defence, with Albion wrapping-up victory a quarter of an hour from time through Alexis MacAllister following great work from Pascal Gross.

It set Brighton up with a fourth-round tie against Manchester United next week, North End exiting at this stage of the competition for the third season running.

Joe Rafferty and Bauer were the only two starters from last Saturday's 2-2 draw at Norwich, Alex Neil rotating the squad and making nine changes.

Paul Gallagher and Tom Bayliss teamed-up in the centre of midfield, Brad Potts playing higher up the pitch.

Billy Bodin started on the right and Josh Harrop on the left, Stockley leading the attack.

The first half was a slow burner, Bayliss booked in the 10th minute for halting the run of MacAllister as he led a Brighton counter-attack.

Brighton had a spell when they got on top of the game, a free-kick from Pascal Gross which travelled over the bar the game's first chance of note.

The final quarter of an hour of the half saw good chances at both ends as the game livened up.

In the 31st minute Jahanbakhsh got behind the North End defence down the right hand side of the box and his shot was pushed past the near post by Connor Ripley.

Twice in quick succession PNE went close at the other end to making the breakthrough.

A flowing build-up through the middle of the pitch saw resulted in Potts finding Stockley with a good pass on the edge of the box, Stockley making room and getting a low shot away with Seagulls goalkeeper Jason Steele dived to push one-handed past the post.

Gallagher too the resulting corner, Bauer meeting it and sending a header against the top of the bar and over.

Just before half-time, MacAllister was played clear into the box, Bauer getting across to divert his shot behind for a corner.

Brighton had a couple of efforts from distance in the opening stages of the second half, MacAllister and Viktor Gyokeres seeing their shots go wide.

Maybe those chances should have served as a warning that the visitors had their tails up, with them taking a 57th minute lead.

Bernardo was able to advance along the left-wing and his low cross bounced across the box without anyone making contact.

It fell to Jahanbakhsh who crashed a first-time shot back across goal and into the corner of the net.

Potts put a shot high and wide after working himself into a promising position in the box as North End looked for a quick response to falling behind.

Scott Sinclair and Sean Maguire joined the action from the bench in the 70th minute, followed soon after by Ben Pearson.

But the changes hadn't had time to have any affect when Brighton doubled their advantage.

Pascal Gross was the architect, getting down the side of Jordan Storey and pulling a low ball back from the byline for MacAllister to slam home from eight yards.

PNE: Ripley, Rafferty, Bauer, Storey, Hughes, Bayliss, Gallagher (Pearson 72), Bodin (Sinclair 70), Potts, Harrop (Maguire 70), Stockley. Subs (not used): Fisher, Davies, O'Reilly, Hudson.

Brighton: Steele, Veltman, Burn, Roberts, Bernardo, Jahanbakhsh (Jenks 84) Gross, Propper Sanders (Cochrane 87), MacAllister (Gwargis 80), Gyokeres. Subs (not used): Yapi, Dendocker, Sanchez.

Referee: Stephen Martin (Staffordshire)