And with that, I will take my leave. It’s been historic. Bye!
Fair play @shrewsweb. That was tough.
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) January 16, 2018
Final score: West Ham 1-0 Shrewsbury
It’s over! Reece Burke, a Newham-born West Ham fan, has scored his first professional goal to take the Hammers into round four, where they will meet Bournemouth or Wigan, who replay tomorrow.
At West Ham, there’s a lot of talk about Stefan Payne’s miss with half an hour of normal time remaining, apparently a wonderful chance.
63: Big chance for Town after Nolan gets a block in and the ball drops for Payne, he's in behind the West Ham defence and drives for the box, he hits his shot under Hart but the keeper gets enough on it to keep the ball out #salop 0-0
— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsweb) January 16, 2018
In other “news”, a player who hasn’t played for nearly three years isn’t going to play again:
Having made the fans wait for more than 200 minutes for a goal against Shrewsbury, West Ham at least served up a good ‘un.
What a hit by Burke!
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) January 16, 2018
The ball falls to him in the box and he strikes it so sweetly. It goes in off the underside of the bar! #WHUSHR 1-0 (112)
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GOAL! West Ham 1-0 Shrewsbury (Burke, 112 mins)
A corner is half-cleared, sent back into the box and Burke, on the half-volley, slams it in!
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Ten minutes to play at West Ham, and still no goal.
“I’ve grown accustomed to reading about VARdy making crucial contributions to Leicester results, but VAR is gonna take some getting used to,” notes Peter Oh.
Half time in extra time, and it is still West Ham 0-0 Shrewsbury.
@Simon_Burnton Soon Joe Hart and penalties...."AaggaGGhGhghGhGhghhhh" (Homer drooling)
— Magnus (@Kamew220) January 16, 2018
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Shrewsbury have made a fourth substitution of the evening, bringing on Bolton in extra time – who has just made a goal-saving clearance to deny Lanzini.
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Final score: Reading 3-0 Stevenage
Reading will indeed play Sheffield Wednesday in round four!
Here’s a match report on Leicester’s victory:
This is the image that assisted the VAR decision. Blue lines, it turns our, are good. I took my screengrab a moment before Mahrez hit the ball, so the decision was even closer than this appears:
The decision to award Leicester’s VAR-assisted goal took 67 seconds. Or 1.24% of a standard 90-minute football match.
Numbers can be very hard to read on stripes, though, hence the blank back. It’s the identical number font and colour, though, that’s really confusing.
@Simon_Burnton looks like a great victory for awful shirt designs at Reading. Why can’t they have the same design front and back? Or am I getting too old for this?
— Andrew Hamilton (@WestBerksFox) January 16, 2018
Paul McInnes is at West Ham for us tonight, and has the unfortunate task of filing an interim match report for the early editions. It starts thus:
West Ham United were taken to extra time at the London Stadium by Shrewsbury as their third round tie went into a fourth hour without a goal. Chances were few and far between on a cold East London night and Shrewsbury had the best of them on a rare breakaway. The addition of second half substitutes for West Ham upped the intensity somewhat, but not enough for a breakthrough.
Not a final score: West Ham 0-0 Shrewsbury
There will be extra time at the London Stadium, where West Ham still haven’t found a way through the Shrewsbury defence.
Heading into extra time... pic.twitter.com/uK2wCvIuEI
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) January 16, 2018
Final scores: Mansfield 1-4 Cardiff; Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Carlisle; Leicester 2-0 Fleetwood
Three games are over, and these are the new-look FA Cup fourth-round ties:
Cardiff v Manchester City
Peterborough v Leicester
Sheffield Wednesday v Reading (probably, barring a crazy late Stevenage fightback)
This is certainly many times clearer:
Here’s a picture from the first half at Reading. I think from the front it’s easy enough to tell the teams apart, but from the back it’s another matter:
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“VAR at its best” seems a strange turn of phrase, given that us English are only just working out what it looks like. Still, we can consider its intervention tonight to have been emphatically positive.
VAR at its best. Such a tight call for the naked eye. History made on @btsport #LEIFLE
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) January 16, 2018
GOAL! Mansfield 1-4 Cardiff
Cardiff’s victory now has a cherry on the top, courtesy of Hoilett’s 25-yarder:
88- That's the pick of bunch. The ball falls for Hoilett 25 yards out and he fizzes a half-volley into the bottom corner. 1-4.
— Mansfield Town FC (@mansfieldtownfc) January 16, 2018
It looks like Manchester City won’t be coming to Mansfield – but their manager is there already:
Some other football-related news for you:
Mention of Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal has got Jonny Mac reminiscing. “I watched that game one afternoon while working for a major record label in New York,” he writes. “I had to get a website finished and launched for a very important artist by 5pm and had the game playing in a small screen on my monitor. Each time Liverpool scored I had to pretend that me punching the air was down to a fix that worked and every time Arshavin scored, my ‘effin’ ‘ell!’ outbursts owed to glitches that were delaying the launch. It all worked out. Happy days!”
GOAL! Reading 3-0 Stevenage
There’s been a hat-trick at Reading! But there won’t be one at Leicester, where Iheanacho comes off, and Okazaki is on. Also on is Jamie Vardy, who replaces Mahrez to great acclaim from fans of both sides.
An excellent goal - lovely football. A slide-rule pass sets Gunter free down the left, and it's a peach of a cross to allow Böðvarsson to tap in his third from inside the six-yard box.
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) January 16, 2018
GOAL! Leicester 2-0 Fleetwood (Iheanacho, 78 mins)
For the first time ever in English football, a goal has been awarded as a result of VAR intervention. It was a close decision, but a correct one.
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Another Leicester goal is disallowed: Mahrez runs forward, engages all defenders and slips in Iheanacho to his right, who lifts the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper and into the net, but was offside. The VAR again has to check it, and on TV replays it looks extremely close.
GOAL! Mansfield 1-3 Cardiff
Anthony Pilkington scores a third for Cardiff, who look all set to book themselves a home date against Manchester City in round four!
VAR action!
Was Pond fouling Iborra at a Leicester free-kick? The VAR is called upon, and can’t see anything that should convince Jonathan Moss to point to the spot.
“While following the Sheffield Wednesday v the mighty Carlisle game from British Columbia, I am watching Liverpool v Arsenal on premier league classics,” writes David Marriott. “Arshavin has scored a hat trick and Torres has just scored his second. Whatever happened to these lads? Great game – tell you what, this could end up 4-4.” Well you’ve seen more goals than anyone else tonight. For everyone else, here’s a visual reminder:
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Carlisle
It’s snowing goals in Sheffield, Atdhe Nuhiu doubling Wednesday’s lead.
Matias with the interception, flicks through for Nuhiu, who cut inside his man and calmly side-footed home #swfcLIVE
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) January 16, 2018
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GOAL! Mansfield 1-2 Cardiff!
I can’t tell you much about the goal, except that it exists. And that David Hoilett scored it.
66 - GOAL!!! The #Bluebirds lead again - @jnrhoilett diverted in! (1-2)
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) January 16, 2018
Match Centre 👉 https://t.co/B6HJbJtJkp#CityAsOne 🔵⚽️🔵⚽️ pic.twitter.com/EeMWgQTXlG
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Fleetwood bring on Devante Cole and Wes Burns, while McAlany and Hiwula-Mayifula come off.
Now here’s a thing …
We have a change at half-time...it's the kit! Reading are warming up for the second half in orange shirts after a clear kit clash caused issues in the first half. Kit men having to earn their crust!
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) January 16, 2018
Not often you see the Royals in anything but blue and white hoops at home... But there's no confusion anymore! pic.twitter.com/rEoUQJv7Hr
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) January 16, 2018
Leicester are rapping on the door, the scent of a second goal in their nostrils.
Leicester have a goal disallowed – Mahrez passes to Gray, who pulls back to Iheanacho, who sidefoots in, but Mahrez’s pass was overhit and the ball crossed the line before Gray reached it.
A delay at Leicester, where Benalouane has just gone for a ball that Pond was diving to head clear, and the defender got a boot in the bonce for his troubles.
Leicester have a fine chance for a second, Iheanacho this time feeding Slimani, whose volley from 15 yards bobbles wide.
So only West Ham v Shrewsbury remains goalless. Fans there will already be getting excited about a potential bonus half-hour.
It's now 135 minutes of no goals between #salop and #westham. Tight game tonight and #salop giving as good as they gethttps://t.co/CZLSj5HRa8
— Lewis Cox (@LewisCox_star) January 16, 2018
Peeeep! Action is back under way in Leicester, and at all the other 7.45pm kick-offs.
GOAL! Reading 2-0 Stevenage
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson has his second goal of the night, and it sounds splendid:
Terrific switch from Bacuna to find Gunter on the left - he clipped a ball to the edge of the box and Böðvarsson comes steaming onto it. Powerful header from the edge of the box and it's in via the post! 🔵⚪
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) January 16, 2018
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This is impressive. His shots-to-goal stats when he broke through at Manchester City were entirely ludicrous.
6 - Kelechi Iheanacho has scored six goals in eight appearances in the FA Cup, however this was his first as a Leicester player. Opportunity.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 16, 2018
The half-time whistle blows in Leicester, and though Fleetwood had their moments, the home side lead at the break.
GOAL! Reading 1-0 Stevenage
This was, according to the Stevenage Twitter feed, Reading’s first shot on target. And it’s gone in, from Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.
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“Clearly the Leicester players can’t be arsed,” sniffed Rai Skrupskis, a minute or two too soon. “Neither can I, and I remember us losing three finals in the 60’s and actually attended the 1969 one at old Wembley. It mattered a lot then. Not now. Sad!”
GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Fleetwood (Iheanacho, 42 mins)
That is Leicester’s first shot on target, and it’s also their first goal. Slimani plays to Iheanacho, whose first touch brilliantly takes it out of his feet and sets him running, and he bears down on the goalkeeper before popping the ball between his legs!
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Now McAleny sends a near-post header wide. For all Leicester’s possession, Fleetwood have come closer to actually scoring.
Oooh! Dempsey’s lovely shot from 22 yards is fizzing and dipping and probably on its way onto the bar, but Jakupovic tips it over!
Benalouane fouls Hiwula-Mayifuila, a really late ankle-cruncher, and is deservedly booked.
It’s no longer raining in Sheffield, though – it’s snowing.
GOAL! Mansfield 1-1 Cardiff!
Cardiff don’t lead for long, as Rose equalises from close range.
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
— Mansfield Town FC (@mansfieldtownfc) January 16, 2018
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Meanwhile in Leicester, Mahrez’s shot from that free-kick goes just wide.
GOAL! Mansfield 0-1 Cardiff!
They’re really flying in now! Bruno Ecuele Manga puts Cardiff ahead at Mansfield.
Mahrez is fouled a couple of yards from the edge of the area, and Leicester have a fine shooting chance. “Meanwhile in Hammerland,” writes Patrick van Ijzendoorn, “the main excitement in the London Stadium is the 4,000 Shrews fans singing ‘Is this a library?’”
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Carlisle!
Marco Matias has scored a goal! An actual goal!
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And then Fleetwood break, and McAleny carries the ball from the centre circle before sending a nice curling shot goalwards. Jakupovic has to dive to stop it, but the save isn’t particularly difficult.
Mahrez sends a terrible cross into the Fleetwood area, but the defender seems distracted and his clearance skews behind. The visitors clear the corner, though.
A shot! McAleny has a pop for Fleetwood from the edge of the area, and it’s firm and on target, but straight at Jakupovic.
Updated
GOA … What’s that? … Oh.
10' - DISALLOWED GOAL. @MattyGodden24 nods it in from @joe88martin's free-kick but the assistant rules it out... 🙄
— Stevenage FC 🔴⚪ (@StevenageFC) January 16, 2018
0-0#RFCvSFC
Fleetwood just had a penalty appeal turned down, after Bell went over int he penalty area. VAR is in play here, but has not intervened.
So far as I can tell, nothing of note has happened or is happening anywhere. So here’s a picture of it raining in Sheffield:
As the game has settled down Leicester have taken control, but have yet to turn their massive territorial dominance into clear chances.
Amartey gets into space on the right, reaches the byline still in space, and crosses straight to the Fleetwood goalkeeper, Neal.
Including stoppage time, tonight’s 10 teams have between them now played over 500 minutes of FA Cup third-round football without scoring a goal.
5 mins: Fleetwood are giving as good as they’re getting at Leicester, though the home side we a decent final pass from Iheanacho away from creating a good chance for Slimani a couple of minutes back.
Peeeeeep! The 7.45pm kick-offs have kicked off!
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Elsewhere in the world of football:
“I see Geoff Eltringham is the referee at Mansfield today,” writes JR. “About two hours ago I watched the game from Saturday where he completely hosed Middlesbrough and was thinking I’m not sure he should be refereeing any games. Then I found out he used to be a Sunderland season ticket holder so that at least explained his performance. Maybe he just shouldn’t be allowed to ref any games involving Newcastle or Boro?” I daresay he won’t be let anywhere near Middlesbrough for a good while.
Claude Puel talks to BT Sport:
I think a cup game is always difficult. Of course the first leg was not a good game, but we played a strong team, powerful, quality. Now we need to be in the fourth round of the FA Cup and I think it’s an important game for us, the squad, and players without game time. It will be important to start with good focus, good concentration. It’s important always to play good football. If we win this game, it will be a good reward for all the team, not just for some players. I think it’s important to keep our focus. We play at home, it’s another pitch, another atmosphere, and I hope of course we can start strong and put it right for the next round.
The star strikers are on the bench at the King Power: Jamie Vardy and Devante Cole; on BT Sport Uwe Rosler is playing down the importance of his decision to relegate Cole to the bench, and playing up the ability of his stand-ins.
The teams!
So PA are getting their game together, and these are the names I’ve been given – I’ll add the rest as they arrive:
Leicester v Fleetwood Town
Leicester: Jakupovic, Amartey, Dragovic, Benalouane, Fuchs, Mahrez, Iborra, Adrien Silva, Gray, Iheanacho, Slimani. Subs: Vardy, Albrighton, Hamer, Maguire, Okazaki, Ndidi, Barnes.
Fleetwood Town: Neal, Jones, Bolger, Pond, Bell, Glendon, Schwabl, Dempsey, Hiwula, McAleny, Hunter. Subs: Coyle, Burns, Grant, Cairns, Sowerby, Cargill, Cole.
Referee: Jonathan Moss.
Mansfield v Cardiff
Mansfield: Logan, White, Bennett, Pearce, Benning, Anderson, Mellis, Byrom, Hamilton, MacDonald, Rose. Subs: Digby, Diamond, Angol, Atkinson, Olejnik, Spencer, Potter.
Cardiff: Etheridge, Richards, Ecuele Manga, Morrison, Bennett, Paterson, Ralls, Pilkington, Damour, Hoilett, Zohore. Subs: Tomlin, Feeney, Halford, Mendez-Laing, Murphy, Bogle, Healey.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham.
Reading v Stevenage
Reading: Jaakkola, Gunter, Tiago Ilori, Blackett, Bacuna, Edwards, Kelly, Aluko, Clement, Beerens, Bodvarsson. Subs: Mannone, Evans, McCleary, Kermorgant, Popa, Richards, Andresson.
Stevenage: Tom King, Henry, Jack King, Wilmot, Martin, Pett, Jonathan Smith, McKee, Kennedy, Newton, Godden. Subs: Fryer, Franks, Wilkinson, Samuel, Conlon, Vancooten, Georgiou.
Referee: Tim Robinson.
Sheff Wed v Carlisle
Sheff Wed: Dawson, Hunt, O’Grady, Frederico Venancio, Nielsen, Fox, Jones, Butterfield, Boyd, Nuhiu, Marco Matias. Subs: Rhodes, Palmer, Lucas Joao, Reach, Wildsmith, Wallace, Pudil.
Carlisle: Bonham, Brown, Liddle, Ellis, Parkes, Grainger, Lambe, Joyce, Jones, Devitt, Bennett. Subs: Hope, Nabi, O’Sullivan, Shaun Miller, Bacon.
Referee: Michael Salisbury.
West Ham v Shrewsbury
West Ham: Hart, Oxford, Ogbonna, Burke, Byram, Lanzini, Obiang, Cullen, Masuaku, Martinez, Ayew. Subs: Zabaleta, Arnautovic, Adrian, Noble, Haksabanovic, Samuelsen, Makasi.
Shrewsbury: Henderson, Beckles, Sadler, Nsiala, Lowe, Godfrey, Riley, Nolan, Ogogo, Whalley, Payne. Subs: Carlton Morris, Dodds, Bolton, John-Lewis, MacGillivray, Bryn Morris, Rodman.
Referee: Jeremy Simpson.
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And finally, Reading v Stevenage, which kicks off later than all the other games, at 8pm:
TEAM NEWS | @Chrisgunter16 captains the side on his 250th Reading appearance this evening...
— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) January 16, 2018
Reading: Jaakkola, Gunter (c), Bacuna, Ilori, Blackett, Edwards, Kelly, Clement, Beerens, Aluko, Böðvarsson.
Subs: Mannone, Evans, McCleary, Kermorgant, Popa, Andresson, Richards. pic.twitter.com/E49wx2oJvt
TEAM NEWS: Darren Sarll names an unchanged line-up from our draw v @ReadingFC 10 days ago. 📋#RFCvSFC pic.twitter.com/7g7BzQqiBx
— Stevenage FC 🔴⚪ (@StevenageFC) January 16, 2018
And Sheffield Wednesday v Carlisle:
Here is our team news v @officialcufc, in association with @Ladbrokes #swfcLIVE pic.twitter.com/dXYijtKgIY
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) January 16, 2018
Your team for tonight's @EmiratesFACup replay against @swfc 🏆⚽ #cufc pic.twitter.com/fzmpLbLDnI
— Carlisle United FC (@officialcufc) January 16, 2018
Twitter it is, then. Here are the Mansfield and Cardiff teams:
TEAM NEWS: #Stags make two changes to the side which drew with Cambridge as midfielder @JoelByrom and defender @HaydenWhite7 return to the starting XI in place of Alfie Potter and @AngolLee. pic.twitter.com/JNzOVYB8Ve
— Mansfield Town FC (@mansfieldtownfc) January 16, 2018
STARTING XI | A strong #CardiffCity side for the @EmiratesFACup Third Round replay @mansfieldtownfc! #CityAsOne 🔵⚽️🔵⚽️ pic.twitter.com/ds8kyx8lJH
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) January 16, 2018
The Press Association, the original and most reliable source of teamsheetly news, don’t appear to have this down as one of their priorities tonight.
MATCHDAY: The Town side that takes on @WestHamUtd this evening in the @EmiratesFACup replay #salop pic.twitter.com/NHi78DECFR
— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsweb) January 16, 2018
📋 | The teams are in! Here's how #ftfc line up for tonight's @EmiratesFACup fixture at @LCFC... pic.twitter.com/LcyGVTarPo
— Fleetwood Town FC (@ftfc) January 16, 2018
Team news is rolling in. I’ll collate it all in one place once it has all arrived.
Tonight's starting XI: Jakupović, Amartey, Dragović, Benalouane, Fuchs, Iborra, Silva, Mahrez (c), Gray, Iheanacho, Slimani.
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2018
Subs: Hamer, Maguire, Ndidi, Albrighton, Barnes, Okazaki, Vardy. #LeiFle pic.twitter.com/gBEpbyVBHv
.@AntonioMtnez_29 is in for his first start. pic.twitter.com/lzdVNaxNuC
— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) January 16, 2018
Hello world!
Tonight’s FA Cup games, then. You’ll notice that none of the home teams start with a letter that comes before L in the alphabet, while three of the away teams do. Incredible scenes! Also, and not very promisingly, every single one of their first attempts to find a winner ended in a 0-0 draw 10 days ago.
Leicester City v Fleetwood Town
This is our report on the first meeting:
Mansfield Town v Cardiff City
Sheffield Wednesday v Carlisle United
West Ham United v Shrewsbury Town
Here’s a report on the first encounter:
Reading v Stevenage
Who knows what fun the football gods have in store for us this evening. The night is still young and I’ve already learned one thing: Leicester’s groundsmen are extraordinarily orderly with their forks:
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