Samba's strike eases Rovers sense of déjà vu

Blackburn Rovers 2 Coventry City

They say lightning does not strike twice, but there was the nearest of misses yesterday. Last season Coventry City of the Championship knocked Blackburn Rovers out of the FA Cup here and yesterday they came within seconds of completing a shock double. With the match in stoppage time Coventry were leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Aron Gunnarsson and Michael Doyle, but just as their 4,500 supporters were beginning to celebrate a place in the quarter-finals, Chris Samba scored to take the tie to a replay on Tuesday 24 February.

"It feels like a defeat," Chris Coleman, the Coventry manager said. "There was only one team who were going to win it in the second half." Sam Allardyce, his Blackburn Rovers counterpart, saw the result as double-edged. "I'm disappointed," he said, "and relieved."

Coventry will feel they can finish the job off at the Ricoh Arena, particularly as their squad was struck by a stomach virus yesterday. Goalkeeper Kieran Westwood failed to take the pitch after the warm-up and others, including Freddy Eastwood, had to play under duress. They felt sick before the game; Blackburn, whose attention is fixed on avoiding relegation from the Premier League, will be feeling queasy about a replay they could do without.

Coventry were under the weather and they felt a lot worse within two minutes when Roque Santa Cruz scored the sort of goal that showed why Blackburn value his services at around £25m. Jason Roberts flicked on and the Paraguay striker, from a narrow angle, rifled a low left-foot shot into the corner of the net.

It was a goal of world-class quality and within 20 minutes was made to look even better by comparison. First Coventry had a glimpse of an opportunity only for Jordan Henderson to pull wide from a position similar to Santa Cruz's, then Roberts shaped a chance for himself only to miscue horribly. Gunnarsson missed a gilded opportunity for Coventry with his head, Santa Cruz hit the bar just before half-time and the game was heading for a routine victory for the Premier League side until the 61st minute when Gunnarsson made amends, the Icelandic midfielder thumping a shot past Paul Robinson from the edge of the area.

Seven minutes later Gaël Givet had the ball in the Coventry net but the "goal" was disallowed for shirt-pulling, a decision Blackburn would rue even more when Coventry went 2-1 ahead. This time the underdogs had a slice of fortune when Doyle's shot took a deflection off Samba that diverted the ball over Robinson. The tie was heading Coventry's way as the fourth official signalled stoppage time but Keith Treacy fired in a shot from the left that deflected off a defender and bobbled just before it hit Andy Marshall in the chest. Samba turned, struck and ensured at least another 90 minutes.

Attendance: 15,053

Referee: Steve Tanner

Man of the match: Gunnarsson

Match rating: 7/10