The team that call themselves the Red Devils, and no I'm not talking about that little club in Manchester moved on with a thrilling 1-0 win over Torquay despite missing two penalties and coming dangerously close late to relenting a home team goal. They continue on to the fifth round as the only remaining non-league team.
Elsewhere, Leyton Orient, a club whose future has been in extreme doubt surrounding the possibility of either archrivals West Ham or Tottenham moving in to the Olympic Stadium down the road, pulled off a stunning 2-1 victory at Swansea City. There have been considerable worries expressed by the O's that occupation of the stadium by either club would most certainly take over Orient's potential future generations of fans. But a great FA Cup run can do a lot to quell troubling news and it seems as if Orient may be poised to have one depending on their draw in the next round.
As for Chelsea, the poor football returned at Goodison Park as the Blues needed a 74th minute strike from the substitute Kalou to salvage a replay back at Stamford Bridge. With his side out of ideas for much of the afternoon, Ancelotti was forced to bring in the bench presence of Salomon Kalou to bring an added energy to Cheslea's game. Five minutes later, Chelsea found themselves back in a position to move on in a tournament they hold so dearly and have won consecutively.
It's been a happy week in Birmingham. After sealing the deal for Darren Bent, Aston Villa have won both of their recent premier league games as well as today's matchup of EPL teams in the FA Cup, beating Blackburn 3-1. Birmingham City, meanwhile have had a thrilling week, advancing to the Carling Cup Final on Wednesday night after extra time before coming from behind 2-0 down to beat Coventry City 3-2 today in the FA cup.
And Finally the other red devils came back from down 1-0 at half time to beat Southampton 2-1 looking about as ugly as a side can look in victory.
Tomorrow will yield several exciting fixtures including Fulham/Spurs, Wolves/Stoke, and West Ham/Nottingham Forest
Surprise of the day:
Tough call but in the end, as great of a win as it was for conference side Crawley, it was definitely a result that I saw as much more plausible than an Orient win in Wales. The two clubs are separated by 36 spots in the league system and as previously mentioned, Orient have had some bleak news as of late, making this result even more fun.
Player of the day:
Chris Eagles
His tireless work in a good not great 3-1 win at Turf Moor over Burton Albion got him two goals and ensured that my Clarets did not fall to their league two opponents.
Team of the day:
I'm tempted to put Manchester United here as no team really stood out as having a great day. There is something about them that they can get wins in some very, very ugly ways. That being said though, I would be hard-pressed not to give this credit to Aston Villa. While, Man U struggled against league one opposition, the Villans managed to get an extremely clean victory against a middle of the pack premier league side. Even their game was not beautiful but it was enough to make me believe they will take this competition seriously enough to get to at least the semi-finals.
photo courtesy: port vale fc official website
photo courtesy: port vale fc official website
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