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FA Cup round-up: Lambert dives in to keep Rovers on a roll

Geoff Brown
Sunday 27 January 2008 01:00 GMT
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On a day of few surprises in the FA Cup, the dreams of two League One sides nonetheless continued as Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town advanced to the last 16. Having disposed of Fulham after a third-round penalty shoot-out, Rovers found League Two side Barnet a tough nut.

But Richard Lambert's 40th-minute diving header from David Piper's cross earned the 1-0 win at Underhill. Barnet might have been ahead in the first five minutes after a handball, but as he'd done against Fulham, Steve Phillips saved the penalty kick.

"I want a tie we can progress in," Rovers manager Paul Trollope said. "If the draw goes our way there is every chance we could make it to the semi-finals."

The tie at Boundary Park ensured more League One progress from the meeting of two third-round giantkillers. It was tight, but Huddersfield Town, conquerors of Birmingham City, won 1-0 against Oldham Athletic, who in the previous round beat Everton at Goodison Park. The Terriers scored after 10 minutes when a long throw set up former Oldham striker Luke Beckett.

Huddersfield manager Andy Ritchie, a former Manchester United striker, has no desire for a soft draw. "I'd love to go to Old Trafford now and play in front of the United fans. It would be a great payday for the club."

Championship Coventry City, who thrashed Blackburn Rovers 4-1 in the previous round, were given a few alarms by Millwall of League One until Stephen Hughes put the Sky Blues ahead with a 16th-minute free-kick. Just before the interval the Lions levelled through Jay Simpson, but seven minutes into the second half, Michael Mifsud's seventh goal in five Cup games saw the Sky Blues win 2-1. "We got the job done without playing as well as we could have done," Coventry manager Iain Dowie admitted. "But being in the last 16 is a big thing."

John Gorman, caretaker manager of Southampton, thought his side were lucky to progress against another managerless side, League Two Bury. The Shakers had the better of the first half , but second-half goals by Andrew Surman and Grzegorz Rasiak wrapped up the 2-0 win. "Bury were unfortunate," Gorman said. "It was our day, that's the Cup."

In the all-Championship tie, Wolves took advantage of a Watford side with five changes to win 4-1 at Vicarage Road. "I played my strongest team," Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, explained, "I wanted to be in the next round. It's been great to get such a good win today, but now we've got points to think about on Tuesday night."

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