Pedro Porro scored his first goal of the season to put Tottenham Hotspur through to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Burnley on Friday, while Fulham eased its way through with a 1-0 win over Rotherham United.
Ten-man Wolverhampton Wanderers came from behind to draw 1-1 at Brentford and force a replay, despite having Joao Gomes sent off in the ninth minute.
Eight-time FA Cup winner Spurs and Burnley looked destined for a replay before Porro broke the deadlock in the 78th minute of a drab game when he intercepted goalkeeper Arijanet Muric’s throw, firing a rocket from long range into the top far corner.
“(Porro) shoots a lot in training - misses a lot, but today it came off and it was an unbelievable goal,” a grinning Spurs forward Brennan Johnson told ITV.
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The victory was relief for Ange Postecoglou’s team, which was missing several key players to injury and international duty, including South Korea captain Son Heung-min at the Asian Cup, and Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma, who are both at the Africa Cup of Nations.
“The bottom line is we’re though to the next round so that’s what you’ve got to take out of it because I think the cup games are a unique beast and we’re through to the next round so that’s the main thing,” Postecoglou said.
“We were a little bit wasteful in the final third because we had most of the ball, most of the territory.”
Burnley’s best chance came in the first half when Zeki Amdouni received a clever flick just outside the six-yard box but took a poor first touch and launched the ball over the bar. It rarely threatened as Spurs found a way to grind out the win.
Championship (second tier) side Rotherham, which hasn’t made it through to the fourth round of the competition since 2001-02, kept its composure early on as Fulham controlled the play.
Fulham’s Bobby Decordova-Reid scores the only goal of the match. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
But Bobby De Cordova-Reid made the breakthrough in the 24th minute, smashing the ball into the top left corner from outside the area as the visitor became overstretched, much to the delight of the foot-stamping fans rattling the century-old Johnny Haynes stand.
Jordan Hugill thought he had levelled the score for Rotherham just moments later, but his effort was ruled out for offside, and ultimately the Yorkshire side were sent home without registering a single shot on target.
“Going through in the competition was our aim, our desire was clear and we deserved it,” Fulham manager Marco Silva said.
Depleted Wolves fell behind to a Neal Maupay goal four minutes before the break but the visitor found the equaliser in the 64th minute when Tommy Doyle hit a stunning strike from outside the area, and will be happy to take Brentford back to Molineux.
“I’m really pleased, it’s an incredible effort from the players,” said Wolves manager Gary O’Neil. “There was not much between the teams even with 10 versus 11. We coped with their extra man, tactically we dealt with it very well. Even going 1-0 down with 10 men, to put in the second half they did was really impressive.”
There are 27 games scheduled for Sunday, while Wigan Athletic hosts Manchester United on Monday. Everton and Crystal Palace clash in a replay on January 17 to wrap up the third round.
The fourth round is scheduled for the weekend of January 27.
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