Sunday 10 March 2013

FA Cup Quarter Final Results

Manchester United 2-2 Chelsea: Chelsea fight back from two goals down to force a replay back at Stamford Bridge. If United were reeling from their controversial European exit, it wasn't showing. They kicked in to gear almost immediately and were ahead after five minutes when Michael Carrick's inch perfect chip through ball was headed majestically past a marooned Petr Cech by Javier Hernandez, keeping his glittering record against Chelsea going. If anyone was reeling from their European exploits this week, it looked to be Chelsea as they still struggled to get in to the game and United doubled their lead after 11-minutes, the headline writer, Wayne Rooney, striking a free-kick that missed everyone on its way to the corner of the net.

As the first half progressed, United seemed to get a little complacent and began to give the ball away cheaply in their own half. Chelsea quickly gained momentum and began to pepper United's box, forcing a lot defensive headers and a couple of saves from David De Gea. The same continued in the second half and Chelsea pulled one back just before the hour mark; substitute Eden Hazard curling a sublime effort in to the far corner. Chelsea would level nine minutes later with a great counter attack that was finished off clinically by Ramires, the second time he's scored Chelsea's second to come back against United. Chelsea almost completed the turnaround late on, but Juan Mata's effort was stupendously saved by De Gea to make sure the replay was the outcome.

Millwall 0-0 Blackburn Rovers: These two hadn't produced a goalless draw since the early part of the last century, so this was perhaps well overdue. Unlike the two fixtures on Saturday, this game didn't produce anything of any real quality that would suggest that these two could really mix it in with the Premiership sides.

The 2004 finalists did look the more dangerous with Jake Kean being the busier keeper. Danny Shittu perhaps produced his best save with an outrageous 40-yard dipping strike that Kean tipped over the bar. Everyone will be hoping that the replay at Ewood Park is a bit better.

Manchester City 5-0 Barnsley: The 2011 Champions ease into the semi-finals with a lot of help from their driving force, Carlos Tevez. The Argentine made the headlines for the wrong reasons earlier this week but he put that behind him by opening the scoring after just 11-minutes; Yaya Toure feeding David Silva but the Spaniard's shot was saved on to the post before Tevez rolled it home. It was 2-0 on 27-minutes when Tevez pulled the ball back for Aleksandar Kolarov to expertly finish in to the bottom corner from just outside the box. Barnsley would go in at half-time 3-0 down as Tevez scored his second four minutes later, Silva playing the ball across the crowded six yard box, Tevez managed to turn on the ball and slot home.

Barnsley attacked more in the second half, but it was still to no avail. If the game wasn't over before half-time, it certainly was five minutes after the restart when Tevez scored his hat-trick after finishing off Samir Nasri's cross. Barnsley's best chance fell to Manchester United loanee, Ryan Tunnicliffe, who managed to break through the defence but couldn't beat Costel Pantilimon. The scoring was finished on 65-minutes with Tevez again involved. This time it was his cross that fell to Silva, the Spaniard's first effort was saved by Luke Steele before Silva converted on the second attempt.

Everton 0-3 Wigan Athletic: Perhaps a shock at Goodison Park as Wigan come out and put Everton to the sword, which means they will compete in their first ever FA Cup semi-final. It was three goals in three minutes and 23-seconds that won the game for Premiership side in a fierce relegation battle in the league.

Everton had started the better without really creating any chances. The atmosphere was unusually quiet in the stadium and it looked to impact the sluggish Everton players. Wigan grew in to the game and the deadlock was broken on the half hour mark when Maynor Figueroa headed home a Jordi Gomez cross. Everton were then struck down by a lifelong fan just moments later; Callum McManaman pounced on a poor pass from Phil Neville before running in to the box and finishing wonderfully past Jan Mucha. The damage was completed on 33-minutes when Arouna Kone's pass to Gomez was fantastically finished in to the bottom, leaving Mucha helpless. Everton never really looked like scoring and David Moyes will be extremely upset with his team's performance.            

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