The Magic Of The FA Cup / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 15 February 2009 / Leave a comment

The first four matches of the day all ended in draws and only Chelsea have their name in the hat for the next round already...

We will have to wait till Manchester United's trip to Derby tomorrow if we are to see a giant-killing feat in this round of the FA Cup after Coventry came within a couple of minutes of doing just that this afternoon. The away side were matched at 1.07 on Betfair whilst leading 2-1 but allowed Blackburn to score in injury-time to secure a good result for those who had backed the draw at [13.0].

In fact, all of this afternoon's FA Cup ties ended in draws to keep the "fixtures men" busy over the next few days. In the first match of the day Fulham were matched at a low of [1.61] before allowing Swansea to secure a replay. A late goal for the home side against Middlesbrough at Upton Park meant West Ham are still in the competition; the draw was backed at [6.8] in that one.

Over at Bramall Lane the draw touched [5.2] as Hull City came to town and Phil Brown's side will now start as favourites for the replay. In this afternoon's only Premier League match, Portsmouth secured a win over Manchester City just five days after sacking manager Tony Adams. Portsmouth touched [4.4] on their way to beating Mark Hughes' side.

Chelsea in the meanwhile are through to the next round after knocking out Watford but they certainly didn't have it all their own way and needed a hat-trick from Nicolas Anelka, with just 15 minutes to go, to bail them out. This after after Priskin, with virtually his first touch after coming on as a substitute, scored to give the home side a shock lead. Chelsea are the [4.4] second favourites to win the competition.