Exactly the same, yet very different. Tottenham’s FA Cup score of choice this season is seemingly 3-1. But whereas a lacklustre performance against League One Morecambe, required Harry Kane to spare blushes from the bench, Brighton were convincingly beaten under the Saturday night lights. Kane was again instrumental, bookending the scoring. The England captain took his tally to 25 for club and country in what is supposed to be a season of discontent. Most striking though was the intensity, perhaps for the first time befitting of Antonio Conte’s reputation. Talk of finals might be premature, but breaking a 14-season trophy drought would be a promising first trick for a manager who reached the Wembley showpiece in both his seasons at Chelsea. “The players know very well that we want to play and bring high intensity during the game,” he said. “Especially in the first half, we brought that. Our fans, the noise tonight was so intense it was difficult to communicate with our players.” Brighton, who trailed by two at the break after an unfortunate own goal adding to Kane’s sumptuous opener, rallied. But when Yves Bissouma threatened to start a comeback, Kane’s response was swift and fatal. Memories of Tanguy Ndombele’s slow-death trudge from the pitch with his side trailing were banished, replaced by promising late cameos form deadline-day duo Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. Brighton’s philosophy under Graham Potter is based on passing from the back. For the opener that proved their undoing. Robert Sánchez had miscued a pass to Adam Webster that almost allowed Kane to pounce. Rather act as a warning, that simply served for Webster to become an unlikely guilty party. Mooted for an England call-up, his ability on the ball caught Jamie Carragher’s eye in Brighton’s last trip to London. But Son Heung-Min – full of zip – stole possession and found Kane via Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. Not that a goal was a formality mind; Kane still had plenty to do, but produced a curled edge-of-the-box finish. Going behind is not new to Potter’s side, who have now netted first in just eight of the´ 27 games across all competitions this season. And a little hiccup will not see them depart from their principles. But what felt like a terminal blow came 24 minutes in. Emerson made a powerful, if lonely, surge forward on the break, and his cross took a wicked deflection off Solly March to leave Sánchez helpless. Brighton’s clearest opening of the first-half came late on, Jakub Moder’s scoop though was never troubling Hugo Lloris. Potter tinkered at the interval, Joel Veltman replacing Adam Lallana. That allowed a switch to a back four, giving Marc Cucurella, one of the Premier League’s stand out roaming full-backs, licence to push forward. And it gave encouragement to their 5,700 travelling contingent too, Bissouma forcing Hugo Lloris to shift his weight in order to avoid being wrong-footed when his effort deflected off Cristian Romero. If anyone deserved a slice of luck, it was Bissouma and he got with 63 minutes gone, his shot from range the beneficiary of a deflection off Højbjerg. The blip was momentary. Son burned past Webster into the box, the defender doing well to seemingly recover only for his feet to get tangled. His failure to clear compounded a miserable evening, and offered Kane a simple sliding finish. “Our personality, our attitude was great but if we’re honest tonight we weren’t good enough to win,” said Potter, honest in his assessment. “We turned the ball over a little bit too cheaply. Sometimes these things can happen. Sometimes it’s not your night. And there’s another team on the pitch that we have to credit as well. Tottenham deserved to go through.”