Full-time: Bolton 3-2 Eastleigh (so Bolton v Leeds in next round) The dream dies for valiant Eastleigh, as Bolton live on, for now.
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GOAL! Reading 4-2 Huddersfield (Vydra 90) Vyrdra completes his hat-trick and a wonderful comeback by Reading, who were two goals down.
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Nerves are jangling at Bolton, where the hosts are doing their utmost to fend off a late revolt by Eastleigh. With one minute of normal time left, it’s still Bolton 3-2 Eastleigh.
Bradford 0-0 Bury. Extra-time to follow.
Full-time: Portsmouth 2-1 Ipswich (so Portsmouth v Bournemouth in next round) Wonderful scenes at Fratton Park as Pompey bring down Championship opposition to set up a spicy south-coast derby.
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-0 Wycombe (so Villa v Man City in next round)
PENALTY! Yeovil are poised to set up a meeting with Everton, as Zoko steps up to take a penalty in stoppage time. What pressure on the striker! And it’s done him in, as he shanked the penalty way off target! It’s still Yeovil 1-1 Carlisle. Extra-time looms.
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Full-time: MK Dons 3-0 Northampton (so MK Dons v Chelsea in next round)
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Full-time: Celtic 8-1 Hamilton
Full-time: Bristol City 0-1 WBA (so WBA will play Peterborough Utd in next round)
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GOAL! Villa 2-0 Wycombe (Gana 90) That’s it! Villa clinch victory with an excellent goal! Gestede received a cross from the left before laying it back to Gana, who rifled a shot into the net from 15 yards to crown Villa’s second-half improvement and extend their unbeaten run. For their reward, they get to host Manchester City in the next round.
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GOAL! MK Dons 3-0 Northampton (Church pen 89) The Welshman sends the keeper the wrong way from the spot, sealing a fourth round bout against Chelsea.
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GOAL! Celtic 8-1 Hamilton (McGregor 89) That could be the knockout blow.
Bristol City get an opportunity to launch the ball into the box, with five minutes to go, as Gardner takes down Reid. Baker leaps well to meet the freekick, but his header flies way off target.
GOAL! Yeovil 1-1 Carlisle (Sweeny 71) After an almighty scramble in the box, Sweeney does a pogo jump to gain enough height to power a header downward into the net! There follows a huge melee.
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RED CARD! Ipswich’s hopes of a comeback take a blow as Malarcyk is sent off for a second bookable offence. Portsmouth remain 2-1 in front.
GOAL! Reading 3-2 Huddersfield (Vydra 61) What a turnaround! Reading were two down until Hogg got himself sent off, and the home team have exploited that expertly.
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GOAL! Villa 1-0 Wycombe (Clark 75) Relief at least for Villa! Gil, introduced a moment ago by Garde, clipped a sumptuous cross into the area, where Clark was left unchallenged as he planted a header into the corner! You can feel the tension flow out of the hosts!
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GOAL! Reading 2-2 Huddersfield (Vydra 57) The 11 men have pulled level. Hogg must be pig sick!
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GOAL! Bolton 3-2 Eastleigh (Pratley 72) Bolton know all about harsh realities and they’re chucking Eastleigh out of dream world at the moment. It’s fantasy stuff from Ameobi, though, as his cute pass sets up Pratley for what could prove the decisive goal for the Championship side over the non-leaguers.
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Villa are well on top now, but they still can’t make the breakthrough against Wycombe. Gana has just spanked a shot wide from 16 yards.
GOAL! Celtic 7-1 Hamilton (Brophy 71) The comeback is on!
GOAL! MK Dons 2-0 Northampton (Murphy 61)
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Aston Villa are starting to find their mojo against Wycombe. Grealish created a chance for Sinclair, who missed the target. One minute later Sinclair seemed to have scored, only for his shot to be cleared off the line in spectacular fashion! Then Gestede went close, too.
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Bolton’s are so skint that they cannot afford to keep Shola Ameobi. The striker will leave the club after tonight - and he now has a chance to offer them a farewell present, as he has been introduced in place of Madine as Bolton try to finally put away Eastleigh.
Bolton still can’t shake off those pesky non-leaguers. They cut through Eastleigh just now with a decent move, but Feeney then blasted into the sidenetting.
GOAL! Portsmouth 2-1 Ipswich (Maitland-Niles 60) The Championship side aren’t out of it yet, thanks to a splendid shot from the edge of the box.
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Wycombe are becoming increasingly confident of springing an upset at Villa Park. They’re the more fluent team and creating more chances. But you fancy they’ll need take one soon if they’re avoid being sickened later. Thompson has just gone close with another header after the latest cutting move from the League Two side. Villa, meanwhile, are looking chronically short of confidence and quality.
GOAL! MK Dons 1-0 Northampton (Reeves pen 53) Ben Reeves smashes the spotkick into the roof of the net after a foul on Bowditch.
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GOAL! Bristol City 0-1 WBA (Rondon 53) That’s a lovely finish by the striker! He trapped a cross from the right perfectly on his chest to leave himself with a calm tap in past the keeper from five yards.
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Pocognoli curls a low freekick wide from the edge of the box. West Brom still look the equals of Bristol City. Meanwhile in Glasgow, Griffiths has put Celtic 7-0 up on Hamilton, with nearly 40 minutes to go. Are you watching, Bon Accord?
At Villa Park, where last season’s finalists still can’t get ahead of Wycombe, Rémi Garde has mad his first substitution, replacing Sanchez with Gana.
GOAL! Bolton 2-2 Eastleigh (Mohamed 45) Aye, aye, what’s happening here! I could give you all the details if TV wonks had chosen to screen this match live, but they didn’t, so suffice to say that the non-leaguers have equalised before half-time, Kaid Mohamed converting smartly after being sent clear through in stoppage time.
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GOAL! Bolton 2-1 Eastleigh (Moxey 43) Bolton restore more dignity! Flitney did well to save from Wellington, but Moxey lashed in the rebound.
GOAL! Bolton 1-1 Eastleigh (Madine 39) Shades of David Bone Nightingale Jack as Gary Madine chests down a cross from the right and sweeps a low shot into the net from 12 yards. Bolton have a shred of dignity back!
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GOAL! Reading 1-2 Huddersfield (Piazon) Reading are starting to make Huddersfield pay for Hogg’s red card. They’ve pulled a goal back with a lovely freekick from Piazon.
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As the legion of Baggies watching TV in Illinois can confirm, the Bristol City-WBA match has been dire so far. Like watching frost form. Meanwhile, non-league Eastleigh are on course for victory over the four-times Cup winners, Bolton Wanderers. And that’s not on TV anywhere.
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At Villa Park, moments after Sinclair wasted a great chance to put Villa in front, Guzan has escaped with a spectacular goof! The keeper came charing out to collect a cross by missed it completely. He was lucky that Jacobson’s header was off target.
RED CARD! Nathan Cameron, who was already on a booking, has just been sent off for deliberate handball. A fine tribute to 1990’s Claudio Caniggia there from the Bury man, but it leaves his team in a right pickle against Bradford. The score remains 0-0 for now.
RED CARD! A complication for Huddersfield, as Jonathan Hogg is sent off for a foul on Vydra. Can Reading turn that to their advantage and overturn their two-goal deficit?
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“Celtic now 4-0 up against Hamilton, while the Scottish Cup replay between Forfar and Linlithgow Rose has been abandoned due to floodlight failure,” sighs Simon McMahon. “In other news, because a couple of fans have thrown flares at matches recently, the SPFL is now talking of introducing facial recognition software at grounds across the country. In a league that barely has two ha’pennies to rub together. What all this says about the state of Scottish football I’m not quite sure. But whatever it is, I don’t think it’s good.” In the time it took to cut and paste that email, Celtic have made it 5-0. As for the facial recognition software, is that just a fancy name for stewards?
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Portsmouth 2-0 Ipswich (McNulty 37) Guess someone’s been tampering with that wand. McNulty has just increased Ipswich’s blues by powering a header into the net! They really, really want a date with Bournemouth.
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GOAL! Portsmouth 1-0 Ipswich (Roberts pen 32) No mistake from the spot as Roberts converts after McNulty is brought down by Malarcyzk. Mick “Merlin” McCarthy could do with waving his magic wand now to avoid a chastening defeat at the hands of League Two opposition.
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GOAL! Yeovil 1-0 Carlisle (Compton 31) Jack Compton edges Yeovil closer to a meeting with Everton with a wonderful strike from outside the box.
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GOAL! Reading 0-2 Huddersfield (Smith) The teams of the 1920s are back on the glory trail! Tommy Smith blems a super shot past Reading’s keeper at the near post.
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GOAL! Bolton 0-1 Eastleigh (Partington 11) Oh Bolton! Joe Partington has put non-leaguers in front, an with a lovely goal to boot! The fullback cantered down the right, then cut inside and swept the ball into the bottom corner from some 14 yards. And it’s no more than Eastleigh deserve, they’ve been the better side so far. Bleak days for Bolton. “As a Leeds fan,how sad is it if I study” the Bolton- Eastleigh game to see our rivals in the next round?” wonders Ezra Finkelstein. I’m disappointed, frankly, that you’re not watching Leeds’ U21s in action at Tranmere at the moment. Fairweather fan.
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GOAL! Reading 0-1 Huddersfield (Paterson 8) Wells races on to a long ball from the back. He can’t fully capitalise but the ball breaks free to Paterson, who wallops it into the net to put Wagner on the trail of Chapman, Boot and Shankly!
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Oooh! Craig Gardner comes close to netting the first goal of the night (other than the three that Celtic got in the first 10 minutes against Hamilton), smashing a crisp low half-volley just wide from the edge of the area.
A slack back header by Michael Doyle at Fratton Park puts Pitmann through, but the striker lifts his shot high over the bar.
Simon Church has spurned a chance to put MK Dons in front against Northampton, firing straight at goalkeeper Adam Smith from close range.
Brunt suffered an injury in the last piece of action - he just pulled up, seemingly with a calf strain - so he is replaced by Sebastien Pocognoli, an actual fullback.
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Chance for Bristol City! Brunt is horribly exposed by the speed of Wes Burns, who ghosted in behind the makeshift left-back and found himself clean through on goal! As Foster rushed out to meet him, the youngster rolled a low shot ... a yard past the far post!
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Bolton v Eastleigh
Bolton: Rachubka, Vela, Holding, Dervite, Moxey, Feeney, Pratley, Trotter, Davies, Madine, Wellington Silva.
Subs: Gouano, Spearing, Danns, Dobbie, Ameobi, Woolery, Campbell.
Eastleigh: Flitney, Partington, Reid, Evans, Harding, Strevens, Mohamed, Payne, Drury, Reason, Constable.
Subs: Green, Turley, Lafayette, Midson, Noice, Cook, Griggs.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
Portsmouth v Ipswich
Portsmouth: Murphy, Davies, Burgess, Webster, Stevens, Doyle, Barton, Evans, Roberts, Bennett, McNulty.
Subs: McGurk, Naismith, Tollitt, Chaplin, May, Close, Bass.
Ipswich: Bialkowski, Emmanuel, Malarczyk, Digby, Kenlock, Maitland-Niles, Hyam, Tabb, Oar, Varney, Pitman.
Subs: Gerken, Coke, McDonnell, Robinson, Toure, Hammond, McLoughlin.
Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northamptonshire)
West Brom don’t look like they fancy this much. Luke Freeman has just dribbled past three Baggies with alarming ease, then opened fire from the edge of the area. Well held by Foster. Elsewhere. Nir Biton has put Celtic 2-0 up on Hamilton.
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In Scotland, Celtic are 1-0 up on Hamilton thanks to Mikael Lustig. Meanwhile at Villa Park, the exciting young Aussie Jordan Lyden has made a bright start. He combined neatly a moment ago with Grealish and Westwood, but Wycombe scrambled the ball out for a corner. Gestede met the setpiece with a header, but from a difficult position he nodded wide. Encouraging start for Villa, though.
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Bristol City are proving quite pesky to their hifalutin’ visitors in the early stages here. Anichebe has just charged all the way back into his own box to snuff out an attack ... and then plunged Foster into all sorts of both with a ropey backpass. The keeper panicked a little but managed to boot the ball to safety.
All matches have kicked off, except the ones at Bolton and Reading, which start in 15 minutes. If it’s an upset you’re after, I reckon Northampton at MK Dons are the ones to keep an eye on.
Villa Park is barely 50% full. Apparently people have better things to do than pay to sit in sub-zero temperatures watching this Villa side. Which is heartening, all told.
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“With regard to JR in Illinois’s assertion that West Brom is the number one club in the Midlands,” begins Conor Thompson. “ I would like to note that there are at least two Aston Villa fans (including myself) in Maine, a state with a significantly lower population than Illinois, and that therefore the Villa-fan-per-capita rate is higher than the WBA-fan-per-capita rate. Also, we’ve won a European Cup.” And there I was thinking that Maine has always been a Walsall stronghold.
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Bradford v Bury
Bradford: Williams, Darby, Nathan Clarke, McArdle, Meredith, McMahon, Evans, Routis, Marshall, James, Cole.
Subs: Billy Clarke, Knott, Morris, Leigh, Reid, Davies, Cracknell.
Bury: Lawlor, Soares, Cameron, Brown, Hussey, Tutte, Etuhu, Pugh, Mayor, Pope, Leon Clarke.
Subs: Riley, Peter Clarke, Mellis, Sedgwick, Lowe, Burgess, Miller.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham
Reading v Huddersfield
Reading: Al Habsi, Gunter, Ferdinand, Cooper, Taylor, McCleary, Norwood, Piazon, Williams, Vydra, Robson-Kanu.
Subs: Bond, Orlando Sa, Alex, John, Quinn, Cox, Keown.
Huddersfield: Murphy, Smith, Hudson, Lynch, Davidson, Huws, Dempsey, Hogg, Paterson, Wells, Lolley.
Subs: Whitehead, Miller, Cranie, Husband, Duane Holmes, Allinson, Bajaj.
Referee: Oliver Langford
Bristol City v WBA
“Aston Villa shouldn’t feature in the headline of this clockwatch because West Brom is the number one club in the Midlands,” storms JR in Illinois. “I offer as proof that here in the U.S. they are televising only one of these eight replays, the Bristol v West Brom game. If you need more proof I know another West Brom fan who lives in my town. That makes at least two in the state, and I’m sure there might be a couple more. We’re pretty much taking over.” Come on now JR, you can’t write in accusing of other of misconstruing local hierarchies when you blithely refer just to “Bristol”. Sensitivity, man, sensitivity! Still, here are the teams in you’re interested in:
Bristol City: O’Leary, Little, Flint, Baker, Williams, Reid, Pack, Freeman, Burns, Wilbraham, Wagstaff.
Subs: Vyner, Ayling, Agard, Kodjia, Bryan, Wollacott, Morrell.
West Brom: Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Brunt, Sessegnon, Gardner, Yacob, McClean, Rondon, Anichebe.
Subs: Chester, Pocognoli, Gamboa, Lambert, McManaman, Lindegaard, Leko.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)
MK Dons v Northampton
MK Dons: Martin, Hodson, Upson, Kay, Lewington, Carruthers, Forster-Caskey, Hall, Reeves, Bowditch, Maynard.
Subs: Church, Spence, Walsh, Powell, Hitchcock, Cropper, Murphy.
Northampton: Smith, Moloney, Diamond, McDonald, Buchanan, Byrom, O’Toole, Holmes, Hoskins, Adams, Richards.
Subs: Horwood, Taylor, Cresswell, Lelan, Potter, Clarke.
Referee: Tony Harrington
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Yeovil v Carlisle
Yeovil: Krysiak, Roberts, Sokolik, Lacey, Dickson, Tozer, Dolan, Walsh, Jeffers, Zoko, Compton.
Subs: Smith, Dawson, Bird, Weale, Campbell, Gillett, Allen.
Carlisle: Gillespie, Atkinson, Ellis, Raynes, Grainger, Gilliead, Joyce, Sweeney, Kennedy, Wyke, Hope.
Subs: Miller, Hery, Hanford, Ibehre, Dicker, Asamoah, Gillesphey.
Referee: Tim Robinson
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Aston Villa v Wycombe
Garde may be keen to extend the club’s unbeaten run but that hasn’t stopped him from making nine changes to his lineup tonight, with the likes of Richards, Clark and Richardson all given a chance to re-establish themselves. Interesting to see Ayew and Gestede starting together.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Grealish, Richards, Clark, Richardson, Sanchez, Westwood, Sinclair, Lyden, Ayew, Gestede.
Subs: Gana, Lescott, Veretout, Gil, Kozak, Bunn, Cissokho.
Wycombe: Ingram, Jacobson, Thompson, Hayes, Stewart, Bloomfield, Pierre, Wood, McCarthy, O’Nien, Harriman.
Subs: Udumaga, Jombati, McGinn, Bean, Amadi-Holloway, Lynch, Ugwu.
Referee: Craig Pawson
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Perhaps now is a good time to recall that Bolton have been in financial difficulty many times before, and on one such time they managed to extricate themselves from it and win the FA Cup! Of course, that was because they had a striker for whom Arsenal were willing to pay a world record fee - give thanks and praise to David Bone Nightingale Jack - and the income from that sale enabled them to march on to victory in the 1929 Cup final. Chances are Arsène Wenger has no plans to make a similar raid these days for Gary Madine. Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag, indeed.
Preamble:
Brace yourselves, readers, for a truly titanic night of FA Cup replays! Tonight’s eight ties feature five clubs who have been champions of England, one that has conquered Europe and seven who have lifted this very Cup. How’s that for glamour! And that’s just the sparkly stuff; beyond that, these ties hold real intrigue and offer answers to questions such as:
- Will the 4,000 Wycombe Wanderers fans at Villa Park be cheering while the locals pour more scorn on Aston Villa or will Rémi Garde’s team continue their recent revival?
- Will Bolton, a club with a rich history and a threatened future, deny honest Eastleigh a fourth-round encounter with Leeds United, a club with a rich history and slightly less threatened future? Bolton will have the support of a crowd who fear they may not be able to watch their side for much longer, but Eastleigh have an outstanding recent record on the road, winning nine and drawing two of their last 11 matches. The tie looks about as evenly poised as a meeting between a second-tier and fifth-tier club can be.
- Will Bristol City shock West Bromwich Albion and keep alive their hopes of winning a major honour in their own country, to add to their 1934 Welsh Cup?
- Who will have more fans at Stadium MK, where Milton Keynes Dons and Northampton Town do battle for local bragging rights on top of the right to take on Chelsea in the next round? The Cobblers are expected to take at least 7,000 fans to cheer them on after the 2-2 draw in the first match.
- Will the 1911 Cup winners, Bradford City, deny the twice-winners Bury the opportunity to beat their own record, no one else having yet managed to equal Bury’s feat of winning 6-0 in the final? (That was in 1903 when Derby County were the last victims of a Cup run in which the mighty Bury did not concede a single goal).
- How much will Reading complicate David Wagner’s attempt to follow in the footsteps of illustrious former Huddersfield Town managers such as Herbert Chapman and Bill Shankly? Indeed, might tonight be a night for Wagner to try to emulate another of his acclaimed predecessors, the one who played an unusually key role in a famous FA Cup replay victory for Huddersfield in 1960: a 5-1 win at West Ham, when Huddersfield outplayed their hosts on a snow-covered pitch thanks to special footwear designed by their aptly named manager, Eddie Boot?
- Will Carlisle beat Yeovil Town and thereby earn the right to celebrate their return to their own ground after ruinous flooding by staging a fourth round clash with Everton?
- Will Portsmouth set up a fourth-round joust with their south-coast derby against Bournemouth? Or will Ipswich be doing a bit of this?
Answers to those question and many more will follow. So stay tuned! If you like.
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