FA Cup Fourth Round: Best for Last | OneFootball

Who knew we’d have two excellent ties midweek? Hopefully folks weren’t too distracted by the Champions League match-up of Manchester City vs. Real Madrid and saw today’s fixture. So much below, including some sass on the Fifth Round draws.

Doncaster Rovers 0 – 2 Crystal Palace

Prediction: Doncaster Rovers 1 – 2 Crystal Palace I’m not gonna lie… Rovers deserve respect. In the driving rain and rough pitch of Eco-Power Stadium, they kept Palace honest. And if a handful of their shots had been a few inches more inside we may even have seen an upset, or at minimum a level scoreline and some extra time. The Premier League side were too casual and sloppy on numerous occasions, with Rovers all too happy to pounce on the counter.

Exeter City 2 (2) – 2 (4)  Nottingham Forest (after penalty kicks)

Prediction: Exeter City 1 – 5 Nottingham Forest Well I was WAY off the mark on that prediction.

Another minnow made waves today. Exeter took a shock lead in the 5th minute after keeper Carlos Miguel bobbled a cross that was pounced on by Josh Magennis. Forest rallied, however, and took to the dressing room up 2-1. Josh Magennis would get his second just after the restart after his header was parried and he popped the ball in after the rebound.

The match looked to turn south for the hosts after Ed Turns, who’d made his debut for Exeter today, drew a straight red card for a dangerous high tackle of Morgan Gibbs-White just before the end of regulation. There a 13 minute delay so Taiwo Awoniyi could receive medical attention after he collided into keeper Joseph Whitworth going for a high ball. Initial reports indicate a broken nose.

The remaining 10 minutes saw both sides frantically pressing for the winner, Exeter’s 10-men with two chances, and Forest with three, including a Jota Silva blast off the post in the 113th minute!

Extra Time

Here’s where the game went simply bonkers. A complete abandonment of any midfield possession by either side led to a manic 30 minutes with shots (at least a dozen) coming fast and furious from both sides. Both keepers were excellent, the woodwork rattled and ultimately neither team prevailed.

The PKs. Exeter go first, on their supporter’s end. The pitch is a mess. Sels is playing mind games. Whitworth is jumping around.

Fair play to Exeter, who took Forest right to the end. Although Joseph Whitworth dove the wrong way on every PK, his nine saves kept the Grecians in the game.

As for Nottingham Forest, Nuno will likely blast them in the locker room, then promptly remind them of this weekend’s fixture against Manchester City. It will be much more challenging at the Etihad, I can assure you.

The Fifth Round Draw

It happened on Monday, but now that the tentative fixtures are resolved, we can dish about the matchups.