With Bolton and Manchester United safely through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the remaining two places had to be filled with yesterday's quarter-final winners. Sunday's first quarter-final was at The Britannia where Stoke hosted West Ham. They met just last week in the Premiership with West Ham winning 3-1 at Upton Park. Stoke were looking to gain revenge by ending Avram Grant's FA Cup fairytale and took the lead after twelve minutes; a trademark Rory Delap throw was met by Robert Huth who headed past Green. West Ham equalised through controversial circumstances when Piquionne looked to have handled when controlling a long ball from Parker, but referee Mike Jones waved play on and Piquionne went on to score. The second half saw Etherington fall over a slight Parker challenge in the box which Mike Jones bought and awarded the penalty. Etherington stepped up but Green saved it to let justice prevail. The winner came after 63 minutes when Carlton Cole was adjudged to have handled from a Pennant free-kick, despite Parker's appeals for self-defence. Danny Higginbotham took the second free-kick and blasted it past Green to secure Stoke's place in the semi-final for the first time in 39 years, they will meet Bolton at Wembley.
The semi-final draw took place so Manchester City and Reading knew that whoever won the tie would face Manchester United. On paper there should have been only one winner but as usual Manchester City came extremely close to an embarrassing upset. Reading gave as good as they got with keeper Alex McCarthy playing very well, City also were guilty of trying to walk it in and missing guilt-edged chances. But City did manage to get the only goal of the match with Micah Richards heading from a corner after 74 minutes.
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