FA Cup 4th round review

This weekend the 4^th round of the FA Cup was played out. There were some big teams battling it out against each other. Also there were some lower division teams trying to get through to the 5^th round and hope to be drawn against a big team and get the big payday. Lets see what happened in the 4^th round.

 

It was nice to see a couple of matches being played on Friday night. 1stly Everton took on Fulham at Goodison. Everton had to come from behind after a Murphy scored from the spot. Stracqualursi equalized before Fellaini headed Everton into the next round. Tottenham went to Vicarage rd to face Watford. Watford were the better team throughout and it didn’t look like there was 35 places between them in the league. Van der Vaart got the only goal of the game just before half time to give Tottenham the win.

 

At midday on Saturday Chelsea went to QPR and the 1^st thing that didn’t happen was the handshakes. The 2 Chairman’s agreed that the handshake was not to take place due to the racism comments from Terry at Ferdinand that happen the last time these to meet. The game was a bit of bore in compassion to the thriller last at Lotfus road . Mata scored from the spot after a soft penalty and take Chelsea into the next round.

 

At lunchtime the biggest game in English football began. Liverpool had Man United come to town. When this 2 met in October the Suarez racism comments happened and got him that 8 match ban. This rivalry normally brings about lots of cards and big tackles but this match was a bit tame compare to normal. Liverpool went ahead through a header from Agger. United then started to dominate the game and they jumped on a mistake by Enrique and Park slotted the ball in to level up the game. United continue to be in control after the break. However with 2 minutes to go Kuyt turned up and smashed the ball into the back of the net infront of the Kop to take Liverpool into the 5^th round at the expense of their arch rival’s.

 

On Saturday afternoon the main chunk of the 4^th round was played. There were 9 matches kicking off at 3pm. The shock result of the round was League 2 Crawley Town beating Championship side Hull 1-0 at the KC stadium. Crawley were rightful winners and got their goal in the 57 minutes through Tubbs. Norwich City beat WBA away 2-1 with late winner from Jackson in the all Premiership match. In the all League One match Stevenage just beat Notts County 1-0 to reach the 5^th round for the 1^st time in their history. Stoke City were too much for Derby County and came away from Pride Park with a 2-0 win.

Bolton beat Swansea 2-1 at the Reebok after coming from behind. Birmingham destroyed Sheffield United 4-0 at Bramell Lane to give the other 5^th round teams something to think about. Leicester were 2-0 comfortable winners against Swindon Town with Beckford getting both goals.

There were 2 matches on Saturday that will need replays to separate the teams. The all Championship match between Millwall and Southampton finished 1-1 at the Den with Southampton being in the lead for nearly an hour before Millwall equalize late on. The other at Bloomfield road Sheffield Wednesday were unlucky not to progress through this game. They gave away a last minute penalty which Blackpool converted and breathed a sign of relief after they had been the better team throughout the game.

 

In the late kick off Brighton played Newcastle at the American Express Community Stadium.  Brighton will be over the moon with this 1-0 win. Putting them in and amongst the big boys again thanks to a Willliamson own goal.

 

On Sunday the last couple of matches were played out. Sunderland drew with Middlesbrough 1-1 at the Stadium of lights. Robson scored a screamer after 16 minutes before a long injury returning Frazier Campbell scored the equalizer on the hour to set up a replay.

The last match of the round was the final big match. Arsenal took on Villa at the Emirates. Villa went ahead through Dunne and then Bent to lead 2-0 at half time. However these 2 scores would come down to earth with a bump in the 2^nd half. Arsenal fought back straight after half time. Dunne fouled Ramsey in the box to give Van Persie a chance from the spot. Which he took with ease. Walcott brought the teams level 2 minute later after a luckily deflecting a clearance. Then only 4 minutes after that Arsenal went ahead after Bent brought down brought Koscielny down in the penalty area. Van Persie scored from the spot and Arsenal had complete their comeback and a place in the 5^th round was their reward.

 

What did you this of the 5^th round?