BLACKBURN 2, COVENTRY 2
Replay's a real sickener for Chris Coleman's strugglers
CHRIS COLEMAN'S Championship strugglers arrived at Ewood Park throwing up - and left Lancashire even sicker.
A serious case of food poisoning ravaged the Coventry squad but nothing would have turned their stomachs more than Christopher Samba's latest of equalisers.
Goals from Aron Gunnarsson and Michael Doyle had left Rovers boss Sam Allardyce praying for some kind of cure as a sorry season looked like heading further south.
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But Samba popped up in stoppage time to punish Coventry and throw Blackburn an FA Cup lifeline.
Sky Blues defender Ben Turner cried off yesterday morning with a bug and keeper Keiren Westwood was taken ill during the warm-up to be replaced by Andy Marshall.
Elliott Ward and Freddy Eastwood managed 90 minutes but spent the eve of the game with their head in the sink.
Battered
Coleman's side looked battered and beaten at the break but they staged a stunning second-half revival that left Rovers looking lily-livered until Samba's third goal this season.
Allardyce has quickly learnt that Ewood Park feels haunted when Coventry are in town. The Sky Blues smashed them in the Carling Cup here last season and were just seconds away from a repeat yesterday.
Samba broke the resistance when Coleman's proud battlers failed to clear a goalmouth scramble and the 6ft 5in defender turned the ball in from 12 yards.
But on this performance, Coventry must still fancy their chances of reaching the last eight for the first time since 1998. Elvis Presley was still doing his National Service in the US Army when Rovers last reached the FA Cup final in 1960.
The only people rocking Ewood Park yesterday were Coventry's amazing fans, who made up 4,500 of the poor 15,053 crowd. Even before kick-off, they were singing 'We're gonna win 4-1' with last season's Carling Cup triumph firmly in mind.
That is a poor effort from the people of Blackburn for a competition that has been devalued ever since Manchester United refused to play in the competition nine years ago.
Perhaps the fans cannot be blamed with some managers playing virtual second- string sides in most domestic cup competitions.
However there can be no groans from Rovers' notoriously fickle fans over yesterday's starting XI. Big Sam is fighting a losing battle to keep Roque Santa Cruz but the Paraguayan took just 90 seconds to give a glimpse of his goalscoring prowess.
Lashed
Jason Roberts flicked a wonderful cross field ball in his direction and Santa Cruz lashed in an unstoppable effort from the edge of the area.
Allardyce must have been a happy man as his side looked like scoring every time they charged into the box during a one-sided 45 minutes.
Blackburn's big problem this season has been not killing off sides when they are in complete control. That is something Allardyce will look to stamp out in the summer. The money from Santa Cruz will go on players with the stomach for a fight - and you can bet Big Sam knows who can instil some fighting spirit.
Despite being on the receiving end of a battering, Coventry should still have gone into the break on level terms when Daniel Fox picked out Gunnarsson unmarked five yards out. But the Icelandic teenager planted his header wide.
When Paul Ince was in charge of Rovers earlier in the season, there was not too much fight in the side. And they showed the heart of a frozen pea when Coventry rolled up their sleeves and got at them.
Gunnarsson, 19, angered his parents when he turned his back on a career as a handball player to become a footballer.
He produces a throw-in to rival Rory Delap and showed a right peg that will be the envy of many. This kid is a Premier League player in the making.
When Coleman drools about him, you know it is just a matter of time before the kid they snapped up from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar last summer moves on to a bigger club.
Gunnarsson grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and pulled Coventry level after 61 minutes by hitting in a superb volley from 25 yards after latching on to Gael Givet's poor clearance. It more than made up for Gunnarsson's first-half howler and his influence on the game was growing all the time.
Illness
Coventry - who lie 16 places below their rivals in the football pyramid - were up for battle and Rovers looked like they were the team suffering from a tummy bug. But they did not get their illness through dodgy grub.
Gunnarsson went close again before the visitors had a lucky escape when Givet headed home from David Dunn's free-kick. Ref Steve Tanner disallowed the 'goal' for shirt pulling - much to Big Sam's annoyance.
Rovers were right to be angry and that must have turned to full-blooded fury when the inevitable came in the 76th minute.
Eastwood headed into the path of Doyle, who cracked a first-time volley from 25 yards that took a deflection off Samba and looped over Paul Robinson. Coventry continued to dominate and even Rovers fans were falling in love with them.
A male streaker sprinted on with red roses and threw one in the direction of Sky Blues heart-throb Ward. They must have felt like sticking their red roses somewhere else when Samba struck his late, late leveller.
This article has 3 comments
Poor effort from the people of Blackburn?
Its nothing to do with Utd under valuing the competition.
Unfortunatly we are in a climate when fans cant afford to pay for every away match/cup game.
I couldnt go yesterday as was working overtime to pay for my ticket for next weeks game at Utd that scosting us £40.23 !!!
By lees. Posted February 15 2009 at 12:21 PM.
We beat them 4-1 in the F.A Cup last year. Morons
By ben. Posted February 15 2009 at 12:04 PM.
Whilst no doubt this will be of little interest to you, just to point out that Coventry's population is three times that of Blackburn. On average 20 per cent of Blackburn's population turn out regularly for matches.
You are right about the lack of fighting spirit in the team, though. It has been that way for several months now, since Mark Hughes lost interest after he won the Manager of the Month award.
I believe the team lost heart after Givet's goal was disallowed - the only shirt pulling I saw was by Coventry players on Rovers players - but then I am not a referee.
By Miggsy. Posted February 15 2009 at 1:51 PM.