Tuesday 6th February 2018
Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (0) 1 ET HT (1) ET FT 1
Che Adams 52
Huddersfield Town (0) 1 ET HT (3) ET FT 4
Marc Roberts 60 OG
Steve Mounie 94,
Rajiv van La Parra 97,
Tom Ince 106
Admission £15. Programme £2.
Attendance 13,175 (inc. 558 away)
Finish work, jump in the shower, chuck enough winter clothing in the car to stock a modest sized branch of Milletts... and we're off!
Forty five minutes prior to kick off, having masticated a nutrition free meal of bulls lips on toast with a slice of processed cheese melted onto it, in the Macdonald's food emporium just down the hill from St. Andrew's Stadium and I'm raring to go (back into the warmth of my car for a snooze) and having squeezed through the tight gap in the Kop turnstiles, I settle down for the night's entertainment (see YouTube video below).
Blues had played well in the initial meeting between these two sides ten days ago, but Huddersfield's quality and strength in depth shone through in the end tonight, as they came from behind to pull level in normal time, before almost completely dominating the game in extra time.
Che Adams made himself some space before shooting on the turn to open the scoring for the hosts seven minutes into the second half, but the visitors pulled level when Marc Roberts could only help the ball into his own net amidst a goalmouth scramble, after David Stockdale parried the ball towards the unlucky Roberts.
Stockdale then made two great stops from Scott Malone and Tom Ince inside the ninety minutes.
But the visitors showed that they still had plenty in
reserve in extra time, as they effectively dismantled Blues, with Steve Mounie and Rajiv van La Parra both scoring in the first period of the added half a hour, while Tom Ince topped off a man of the match display to put the result beyond doubt with ten minutes left to go. Maybe 4-1 was slightly unflattering to Birmingham, but there was no argument that the Yorkshire side were worthy winners.
Right, I'm hoping this wispy snow holds off and doesn't turn into anything too drastic and that I'm at home and in my nice warm bed not long after 1AM.
Good luck to Huddersfield Town in their FA Cup fifth round tie against Manchester United at the John Smiths Stadium.
FT: Birmingham City 1 v Huddersfield Town 4 (AET)
