McCarthy heads Rovers into fifth round after extra time
McCarthy sent Blackburn into the fifth round of the FA Cup
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Wednesday, 04, Feb 2009 10:54
Benni McCarthy scored late on in extra time to send Blackburn Rovers into the fifth round of the FA Cup after beating Sunderland 2-1 in their replay at Ewood Park.
The game had looked to be heading to penalties after Aaron Mokoena had cancelled out David Healy's strike for the visitors in the first half.
But McCarthy was able to latch on to a pin-point free-kick from Carlos Villanueva with 116 minutes of the replay gone and sent his header past Craig Gordon.
Rovers nearly went ahead when Zurab Khizanishvili hit the post from another Villanueva cross.
But it was Healy who gave Sunderland the lead after he followed up Daryl Murphy's shot. Healy was close to being offside when the midfielder unleashed his initial effort which was blocked by Ryan Nelsen.
But the flag stayed down as the rebound fell to him and the Northern Ireland international calmly stroked it past Paul Robinson.
Aaron Mokoena equalised for Rovers in style as he smashed the ball home from 25 yards out. It broke to the midfielder on the edge on the area and the South African lashed it in to the top corner.
The home side dominated proceedings in the second half and striker Roque Santa Cruz should have done better with two headed chances before being replaced by McCarthy.
The South African proved to be the difference between the two sides as he rose to meet Villanueva's cross at the end of extra-time.
Elsewhere, Derby set up their second cup tie of the season against Manchester United after they came from behind to beat local rivals Nottingham Forest 3-2 at the City Ground.
Chris Cohen and Nathan Tyson gave Forest a 2-0 lead after 14 minutes but Rob Hulse pulled a goal back before half-time.
Paul Green levelled things ten minutes into the second half before former Forest midfielder Kris Commons struck with 20 minutes to go to complete the Rams' comeback.