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On Tuesday in England there were two dramatic FA Cup eighth-final matches. After them it became clear that "Middlesbrough" and "Man Utd" have advanced to the next stage and will face each other.
In Birmingham, local team "West Bromwich Albion" faced "Middlesbrough". The visitors, in the absence of the injured Mark Schwarzer, replaced him with Brad Jones in goal, who had a lot of work in the first half. Initially, he saved a dangerous header from Paul McShane and an attack from Nathan Ellington. However, D.Jones couldn't save the team after Darren Carter's shot.
After the break, the game leveled off and "Boro" equalized - in the 63rd minute, after a shot from Mark Viduka, the ball bounced off into the net. This was already the 9th goal for the Australian in the last 11 matches.
At the end of the match, the guest goalkeeper Lee Dong-Gook could have snatched victory, but goalkeeper Dean Kiely played reliably.
At the beginning of extra time, Nathan Ellington received a red card, "W.B.A" was worried about their goalkeeping and waited for a penalty shootout. In it, as in the previous stage against "Bristol City", luck was on the side of "Middlesbrough" again. After 10 shots, the score was tied at 4-4. Then George Boateng scored, and Sherjill MacDonald from "W.B.A" missed over the goal, and "Boro" celebrated victory.
The match between "Reading" and "Man Utd" started incredibly, where the hosts were sent to a deep knockdown at the beginning of the match but later recovered.
Just 2 minutes after a long shot by defender Gabriel Heinze from over 20 meters, the ball slipped under "Reading" goalkeeper Adam Federici's arm and rolled into the goal.
4 minutes later, Rio Ferdinand made a long and precise pass across the field to Frenchman Louis Saha, who controlled the ball with his chest and sent it into the far corner from the left.
6 minutes into the game, the stadium was stunned. Kieran Richardson took the ball in the middle of the field, made a precise pass to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the Norwegian increased the lead to 0-3.
However, "Reading" quickly recovered from the knockdown. 23 minutes after a corner kick, Ivar Ingimarsson headed the ball to Dave Kitson, who from just a couple of meters also headed the ball into the net.
After the break, unexpected things happened on the field. The stubborn hosts pressed the "Premier" league leaders towards their own goal, who started the match with more reserve players.
"Man Utd" responded with dangerous counterattacks, but they lacked accuracy - K.Richardson often couldn't control the ball or missed the target when shooting. Wayne Rooney was closest to scoring later, but he was caught up by the goalkeeper and the danger was eliminated by G.Bikey.
Constantly attacking, "Reading" players finally succeeded - in the 84th minute, after a pass from Ulises de la Cruz, Leroy Lita fell and made a precise shot with his head to soften the score.
At the end of the match, the Manchester team collapsed and in defense they simply cleared the ball further away from the goal. And the Icelandic player from "Reading" almost created a sensation, when in extra time he hit the crossbar with a long tricky shot.
On Wednesday, "Blackburn" and "Arsenal" will play in the repeat matches.
Statistics:
1 – 1, Penalty shootout 4-5
26‘ [1 – 0] Darren Carter
63‘ [1 – 1] Mark Viduka
93‘ Nathan Ellington ("W.B.A") sent off
2 – 3
2‘ [0 – 1] Gabriel Heinze
4‘ [0 – 2] Louis Saha
6‘ [0 – 3] Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
23‘ [1 – 3] Dave Kitson
84‘ [2 – 3] Leroy Lita
