West Brom hold Boro at Riverside
Yakubu's first-half penalty edged Middlesbrough in-front
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Saturday, 17, Feb 2007 07:52
Middlesbrough face another tricky cup replay after being held to a 2-2 draw by Championship side West Brom at the Riverside.
Baggies striker Kevin Phillips had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside in the most entertaining part of the opening half hour, but within a minute his side were behind.
Emanuel Pogatetz had already seen an earlier goal-bound header cleared from off the line when defensive partner Julio Arca found himself luckier on the half-hour mark.
A deep cross from Stewart Downing found the Argentinian unmarked at the far post and he powered home to build expectations among the Riverside crowd of another cup run.
Three minutes from the break however the visitors profited from a blunder from Mark Schwarzer as the Australian keeper allowed Diomansy Kamara's solid but unspectacular effort to slip under his body and into the net.
But they could not make it to the interval level as Yakubu drew a foul from Curtis Davies and stroked home the resulting penalty, a feat he had struggled with against Bristol City earlier in the week, to restore Boro's lead.
Philips finally got his goal 14 minutes after the restart as his shot cannoned off Andrew Taylor to beat Schwarzer and level the game and reward West Brom's dominance.
James Morrison almost stole victory for the Teessiders with a fine curling effort, but Dean Kiely proved equal to the attempt and the Hawthorns now await Gareth Southgate's side.
Elsewhere Plymouth took the lead at home to Derby through a Kevin Gallen penalty after 13 minutes, but the former QPR striker could not repeat the trick after winning a second spot-kick on the half-hour as Stephen Bywater saved well.
Darren Moore, whose fouls had already cost the visitors the two penalties, was given his marching orders on 67 minutes and a late Scott Sinclair wrapped up a 2-0 win for the Pilgrims.
At Vicarage Road Ipswich's hopes of downing Premiership Watford appeared to take a dive as George O'Callaghan was dismissed by referee Steve Bennett after an aerial tangle with Danny Shittu on the stroke of half-time.
But it took until the last few minutes for the Hornets to finally overcome their stubborn resistance when Damien Francis connected with a low cross from Tommy Smith to send his side through 1-0.