FA Cup 2012, Fifth Round Replays: Millwall Stun Saints, Blackpool Advance
Blackpool hadn’t made it to the fifth round of the FA Cup in more than twenty years, so even though they were favourites against League One Sheffield Wednesday there was still some question about how seriously they’d take their match at Hillsborough. The crowd certainly wasn’t into the match - about twenty people showed up - and their pessimism was soon justified when Blackpool went ahead with two long-range shot in the first few minutes, the first a rolled effort by Matt Phillips which bobbled its way past Stephen Bywater and into the bottom corner and the second a beautiful curling strike by Lomana LuaLua after a lovely run that covered half the pitch.
At 2-0 the game was over, but that didn't stop the Owls from trying to grab a lifeline back into it. Matthew Gilks was forced into a smart stop after Rob Jones powered a header toward his far post before halftime, but any hope that the hosts might have had was ended shortly after the interval when Ludovic Sylvestre swept into the top corner following a glorious backheel by Matt Phillips. A couple of chances from both side closed out the match, but they weren't going to have an impact on the result. Blackpool win 3-0 and advance to face Everton away in the next round.
Southampton vs. Millwall
Southampton were looking at a great opportunity to open up a path to the quarterfinals with Bolton Wanderers awaiting in the fifth round, but their visitors pulled off a shock win when they netted twice in the final fifteen minutes, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2, the final goal coming in the second minute of injury time.
Millwall didn’t seem intimidated by the fact that these two sides were at opposite ends of the Championship table and started brightly, with Liam Trotter netting via deflection in the 17th minute. Although the goal hardly stung the hosts into action, and the Saints had an equaliser before halftime when Adam Lallana weaved his way through the Millwall defence before firing Southampton level, and once level they continued to press the attack until finally going ahead in the 77th minute through Richard Lambert.
Unfortunately for the home fans, Millwall responded almost immediately when Dany N’Guessan drew things back to level pegging with a neat header two minutes later. We looked set for extra time and a penalty shootout before Liam Feeney broke the deadlock with a brilliant curling shot to send Millwall to the fifth round.
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