Pompey prevail with last gasp goal
Reuters - Tuesday 12 January 2010, 22:57
South African Aaron Mokoena
scored in the dying seconds of extra time to break Coventry City
hearts on Tuesday and send cash-strapped Portsmouth through to
the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Championship Coventry were leading 1-0 and
on the verge of dumping the 2008 winners out of the cup when
captain Stephen Wright threw the visitors a lifeline with a
90th-minute own goal.
With penalties looming after a deadlocked extra time,
Mokoena headed home to earn his side a 2-1 win and revive hopes
of another lucrative Cup run for the Premier League's bottom
club who next play Sunderland.
"It was very important that we won this game so we can build
from it. We needed it badly," midfielder Mokoena told the BBC
after his first goal for the club.
Birmingham City, the only other Premier League club in
action, set up a fourth-round clash at last year's losing
finalists Everton after ending Nottingham Forest's 18-match
unbeaten run with a 1-0 win.
Barry Ferguson broke the deadlock against the run of play
with a left-footed shot in the 62nd minute, sending the in-form
Premier League side through at the expense of their Championship
visitors.
Birmingham also had a Cameron Jerome effort cleared off the
line in the closing minutes of the third-round replay at St
Andrew's.
Sheffield United earned a ticket to Premier League Bolton
Wanderers after beating Championship rivals Queens Park Rangers
3-2 in a replay at Loftus Road featuring a flurry of three goals
in the space of four second-half minutes.
Championship Derby County overcame League One Millwall 5-3 on penalties after their match ended 1-1
after extra time.
Cardiff and Bristol City must replay their all-Championship
third-round tie after drawing 1-1 at a snowy Ashton Gate.