The FA Cup has always been famous for upsets and giant killing acts and we were treated to two of the best at the weekend. The mega rich Premier League teams and first two in the betting for the FA Cup Chelsea and Manchester City were well and truly embarrassed after they crashed out on their own patches against League One Bradford and Championship Middlesbrough on Saturday. With Tuesday’s League Cup replay against Liverpool in mind Chelsea manager Mourinho made nine changes to the team that usually starts in the Premier League, which was a sacrifice he would later live to regret. Both teams started with a real purpose and the game was lively and end to end from the and both sides threatened to take the lead. Chelsea were the first to strike after 20 minutes when Gary Cahill guided in a near post corner with a clever flick. Things became worse for the Bantams before they got better when Chelsea doubled their lead eight minutes from the break. Ramirez won the ball on the half way line and drove to the edge of the Bradford box unchallenged, played a neat one-two with Salah and coolly passed the ball inside the left hand post to make it 2-0. Chelsea 2-0 up at home usually means game over, even for some of the world’s best teams however, they were facing Bradford City today, a team with no fear and a history of achieving what seems to be the impossible in Cup football. The visiting Bantams faithful didn’t have long to wait before they were celebrating when the well travelled striker John Stead, on loan from Huddersfield, fired in a real rocket, which flew into the right hand top corner giving Chelsea keeper Peter Cech no chance. The goal was well deserved as Bradford were far from disgraced in the first half and it would not have been a surprise if they had gone in to the break on level terms. Mourinho was well aware of the threat Bradford still posed and with 20 minutes remaining he brought on two of his stars Willian and Fabregas, but with hindsight may have been better bolstering an inexperienced defense that would soon crumble under pressure and weight of expectation the club has created since Mourinho first arrived. The changes did not hold the Bantams back and four minutes later they were level when an inconspicuous long throw was missed by three Chelsea defenders, Hanson flicked on and the unmarked Chelsea reject Filipe Morais fired in at the back post to send the Bradford fans delirious with delight. The momentum was with the Bantams now and they would soon make their illustrious hosts pay for underestimating them. The excellent Stead started off a well worked move down the right; Morais crossed perfectly for Stead; who’s control on the edge of the six yard box was perfect, as was his pass to Andy Halliday and his well timed run from outside the box left him unmarked, and he fired in a cracking right foot curler past Cech to give his side a well earned 3-2 lead with eight minutes remaining. The Bradford fans were now in dream land, cheering and singing in full voice with the Chelsea fans stunned in to silence. The Bantams would have been forgiven if they had sat back and invited Chelsea to take the lead from them, but they were in no mood to take them back to Valley Parade. With three minutes of added time remaining substitute Mark Yeates cut in from the left, hit a lovely pass with the outside of his right foot to Stead, who again controlled and held up play perfectly with three defenders surrounding him. Stead laid off an inch perfect pass for Yeates, who had continued his run past him and he slotted home smartly past the advancing Cech to send the traveling fans in to ecstasy and the Bantams in to the fifth round. This was the first time Chelsea had lost at home against lower-league opposition since 1995 and they must now lick their wounds, prepare for their midweek clash against Liverpool, and just as important this weekend’s Premier League showdown with Manchester City. Manchester City, like Chelsea, were home bankers to progress to the fifth round, but they paid Boro more respect than Chelsea did Bradford, with nine of their starting eleven regulars in the Premier League including top scorer Aguero and captain Kompany in defense. City totally dominated the first half and had numerous chances to take the lead, but they could not find a way past the inspired former Real Madrid keeper Tomas Mejias, who was sensational throughout the match. Man City’s superiority and significant first half possession would soon count for nothing as Boro’s resilience paid off seven minutes in to the second half. The Teesider’s broke quickly from the half way line through Vossen then Adoma, courtesy of some shambolic defending by City. Adomah chased Fernando’s back pass down and a fifty-fifty challenge with City keeper Cabellero left the ball heading goal bound, which Fernando and on loan Chelsea forward Bamford chased down. Fernando cleared off the line, but Bamford wisely sensed this and dived in to block the clearance and give Boro a surprise but well deserved lead. Boro’s confidence grew once they took the lead and with their defensive strength began to play more adventurously going forward. City had claims for a penalty turned down when Aguero fell in the area. Boro maintained the pressure and nearly doubled their lead when city keeper Caballero tried a casual pass out from the back and the brilliant Tomlin was first to react. He dribbled clear of the City defense coming in from the right and his shot would have found the far inside post, but Caballero redeemed himself with a brilliant save, which he backed up immediately the ball fell to Leadbitter who hit a pile driver from just inside the box and Cabellero came to City’s rescue again with a block on the edge of the six yard box. Tomlin was soon causing City problems again when his cross field pass found Adomah, whose control and pace took him past Zabeleta, but his lob failed to beat Caballero. Tomlin continued to embarrass the City defence and it looked like he would get the goal he truly deserved when a wonderful bit of skill on the edge of the area left the City defence bemused and Tomlin one on one with Cabellero. However, his perfect shot with the outside of his right boot was agonizingly denied by the inside of the left hand post and the ball fired straight across the goal and out for a goal kick. City tried to rescue the game sending on Lampard and Fernandinho and the former Chelsea man almost got the equaliser when his right footed strike on the edge of the Boro area took a deflection, but it looped onto the post and was cleared for a corner. With City piling forward desperately trying to find the equalizer they were always going to leave themselves stretched at the back and Boro soon exploited their rival’s shortcomings in emphatic fashion. Leadbitter and then Adomah broke free in the City half, Adomah’s perfect pass found Bamford through the middle of the city defense, and while he was fouled from behind on the edge of the D the referee played the advantage and his momentum meant he still found substitute Kike, who sparked jubilant celebrations for the Boro faithful when he raced through and calmly beat Caballero to give them a famous and well deserved win. Saturday was also a disappointing one for the other Premier League top sides as Southampton crashed out after a remarkable thriller at St Mary’s, which witnessed all five goals before half time. The Saints took the lead after eight minutes through top scorer Pella, but Palace were back on level terms minutes later when Chamakh bagged the first of his brace, bundling home after Frazer could not handle Sanogo’s powerful shot. Southampton were ahead again minutes later, courtesy of a Palace own goal by Scott Dann who accidentally directed Bertrands cross in to his own net; before Palace equalized minutes later, this time thanks to Sanogo, who bagged his first goal for Palace courtesy of Zaha’s well timed through ball. The game continued to be a pulsating, attacking and open affair with both teams coming close to scoring again, before Chamakh netted his second and the winner. The Moroccan broke clear of the Saints back four and slotted home a cool finish past Frazer to give his side a 3-2 lead, which miraculously ended up being the final score, sending Palace through to the fifth round. Nine man Swansea’s impressive record in the Cup in recent seasons was brought to an abrupt end, losing away at Blackburn 3-1. However, an early sending off for the Swans, somewhat harshly after 7 minutes, put them on the back foot from the off, and while they took the lead after 20 minutes through Sigurdsson it was short lived when Rovers equalized minutes later thanks to Chris Taylor. The Swans held on admirably until late in the second half, but playing with ten men for such a long period eventually took its toll. Rovers manager Bowyer, who had left top scorer Gestede and proven goal scorer Rhodes on the bench, made the wise decision to bring the two on, Gestede first and Rhodes with just over 10 minutes remaining. His tactical changes paid off as a minute after Rhodes came on they were ahead from a corner, when Gestede volleyed in after he reacted well to his initial miss hit header. Rovers put the game out of Swansea’s reach with a minute of normal time remaining when they broke on the counter attack; Conway and Olson worked the ball down the left, Olson cut back pass found the surging Conway whose first touch set up a fine strike, which squirmed under Swansea Keeper Fabianski for the winner. Spurs have won the FA Cup eight times in their history however, it’s been a long time since they last won the trophy and their frustrated fans will have to wait another year after they were embarrassed at home by a late come-back from Leicester. Leicester started well and came close to taking the lead through record signing Kramaric and then the sprightly Schlupp, but Spurs stand in keeper Vorm denied them both with world class saves. Spurs took the lead just before the 20 minute mark when Soldado was brought down in the box winning a penalty, which Andros Townsend put away. The home side defended their lead for almost seventy minutes and had a number of guilt edged chances to double their lead but could not break a resilient Leicester down. With three minutes remaining Leicester were far from out of it and from a corner they found their equalizer. The corner was not cleared by the Spurs defense, who seemed lethargic in their efforts, and Schlupp’s mishit shot from outside the box found Ulloa near the penalty spot. Even with three defenders round him he created space with his first touch and finished well past Vorm in the left hand corner. Spurs were stunned by their opponent’s equalizer and fell asleep again for the winner in added time. The Foxes were allowed to work the ball down the right without much resistance and the resulting cross found Schlupp who got to the cross ahead of the Spurs defense and flicked a soft volley towards goal, which Vrom somehow managed to fumble in to his own net leaving the Leicester player and fans to celebrate a well deserved come from behind win. Liverpool and Sunderland also disappointed on Saturday, failing to dispatch lower league opposition with home advantage. Both sides could only manage 0-0 draws against Bolton and Fulham respectively, and the Championship outfits will look forward to bringing their Premier League opponents back to their home patches for the replay’s, which will hopefully provide better entertainment for the fans. West Brom were the only other Premier League side to win alongside Palace on Saturday when they made the short journey to West Midland derby rivals Birmingham City. This was another match that witnessed all of the goals before half time and Anichebe was the match winner for Albion with a first half brace. Jonathan Grounds gave the home side a lifeline to make it 2-1 just before the break and while they improved in the second half and worked hard in search of the equalizer, their lack of quality in front of goal proved to be their undoing and the visitors comfortably made it through to the fifth round. Elsewhere Reading came from behind to beat Cardiff and Derby had to work hard to beat League one Chesterfield at the iPro Stadium 2-0, with on loan signing Darren Bent scoring his first goal for the Rams. The Hoops came from behind to win 2-1 thanks to second half strikes from Norwood and Robson Kanu. The one other tie on Saturday between Cup giant killers Preston and Sheffield United at Deepdale was a close one and they will now head to Bramall Lane for the replay after a 1-1 draw. Sunday was the reverse of Saturday’s action with all three Premier League sides making it through to the fifth round, albeit not in resounding fashion. West Ham left it late to beat a heroic Bristol City at Ashton Gate, thanks to substitute and top scorer Sakho’s 81st minute header. City can feel hard done by as they were equal to, if not marginally better than their Premier League rivals for the majority of the match, and it took the introduction of Sakho in the second half to swing the match in the Hammers favor. Aston Villa ended their seven match winless run with a comfortable 2-1 win at Villa Park against Championship leaders Bournemouth, who made eight changes in light of their promotion challenge. Bournemouth were the better side in the first half, but couldn’t make their superiority count and Villa took the lead through debutant Giles just after the break. Weimann doubled their lead 20 minutes later to give their long suffering fans something worthy to celebrate, before Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson managed a consolation equalizer in injury time. In the final match of the weekend Arsenal travelled to the south coast to take on Brighton at the Amex Stadium in what turned out to be a real stormer of a cup tie. Arsenal were ahead within 90 seconds thanks to Walcott before Mesut Ozils close-range finish put the holders two up before the break. Brighton are much improved under new manager Chris Hughton and twice fought back to reduce the deficit to one goal in the second half, thanks to OGrady and Sam Baldock strikes. Rosickys superb volley in between Brighton’s second half strike kept the Gunners ahead, and while the Seagulls were unlucky to not have a penalty awarded with five minutes remaining the Gunners were ultimately good value for their win and are now favorites to defend their trophy after Chelsea and Man City were knocked out.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:25:50 +0000
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