Bolton Wanderers secured a place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a last-gasp winner from Chung-Yong Lee against Birmingham City.
A gripping cup tie looked like it was heading for a replay after Kevin Phillips’ equaliser in the 80th minute, but anything less than a victory for Bolton would have been harsh for the team who were never behind in the match.
The match was initially slow to kick into life, with a bobbly pitch not helping either team particularly well, though a strong visiting side looked slightly more comfortable than a much-changed Birmingham team.
In the 18th minute the Trotters came close to opening the scoring, following a fine passing move involving Ivan Klasnic, Kevin Davies and Stuart Holden, with the latter unable to control the ball properly, as it rolled to Ben Foster.
Birmingham had a fair warning that Bolton were in the mood, and in the 22nd minute, the Wanderers took the lead through an altogether more direct route.
A long ball from Jussi Jaaskelainen – making his 500th appearance for Bolton, was partially cleared, but Fabrice Muamba headed on to Klasnic, who produced a fine flick to send Johan Elmander through on goal.
The Swede hadn’t scored for 10 matches, but showed no sign of rustiness, slamming the ball past Foster who had no chance of stopping the shot.
Things went from bad to worse for Birmingham, who had to make two substitutions in the next eight minutes, as first Martin Jiranek, who had been struggling for some time after Holden had accidentally trodden on his ankle, was replaced by Liam Ridgewell.
Captain Barry Ferguson, playing with a broken rib, was then forced to leave the field seemingly with a thigh problem, to be replaced by Nathan Redmond, who celebrated his 17th birthday only six days before the match.
The encounter was beginning to get bogged down in a battle of long balls, and Birmingham found their way back into the match through one such opportunity.
A long ball flicked on by Cameron Jerome was cleared poorly by David Wheater, straight back to the striker, who took a touch before hitting the ball on the half-volley into the bottom corner of Jaaskelainen’s net.
The'keeper could be disappointed to be beaten by the shot, especially considering it was at his near post. Owen Coyle will certainly be angry that such a simple goal got Birmingham level, with Wheater failing so far to impress when filling in for the injured Zat Knight.
That was the last real action in the first half, and the first flash point of the second came after seven minutes when a long ball was pumped into the box, this time by Bolton, and after the ball was flicked on in the penalty area, the ball hit Curtis Davies on the hand. However, referee Phil Dowd gave a free-kick to Birmingham, after Gary Cahill had pushed Davies in the back.
A gripping cup tie looked like it was heading for a replay after Kevin Phillips’ equaliser in the 80th minute, but anything less than a victory for Bolton would have been harsh for the team who were never behind in the match.
The match was initially slow to kick into life, with a bobbly pitch not helping either team particularly well, though a strong visiting side looked slightly more comfortable than a much-changed Birmingham team.
In the 18th minute the Trotters came close to opening the scoring, following a fine passing move involving Ivan Klasnic, Kevin Davies and Stuart Holden, with the latter unable to control the ball properly, as it rolled to Ben Foster.
Birmingham had a fair warning that Bolton were in the mood, and in the 22nd minute, the Wanderers took the lead through an altogether more direct route.
A long ball from Jussi Jaaskelainen – making his 500th appearance for Bolton, was partially cleared, but Fabrice Muamba headed on to Klasnic, who produced a fine flick to send Johan Elmander through on goal.
The Swede hadn’t scored for 10 matches, but showed no sign of rustiness, slamming the ball past Foster who had no chance of stopping the shot.
Things went from bad to worse for Birmingham, who had to make two substitutions in the next eight minutes, as first Martin Jiranek, who had been struggling for some time after Holden had accidentally trodden on his ankle, was replaced by Liam Ridgewell.
Captain Barry Ferguson, playing with a broken rib, was then forced to leave the field seemingly with a thigh problem, to be replaced by Nathan Redmond, who celebrated his 17th birthday only six days before the match.
The encounter was beginning to get bogged down in a battle of long balls, and Birmingham found their way back into the match through one such opportunity.
A long ball flicked on by Cameron Jerome was cleared poorly by David Wheater, straight back to the striker, who took a touch before hitting the ball on the half-volley into the bottom corner of Jaaskelainen’s net.
The'keeper could be disappointed to be beaten by the shot, especially considering it was at his near post. Owen Coyle will certainly be angry that such a simple goal got Birmingham level, with Wheater failing so far to impress when filling in for the injured Zat Knight.
That was the last real action in the first half, and the first flash point of the second came after seven minutes when a long ball was pumped into the box, this time by Bolton, and after the ball was flicked on in the penalty area, the ball hit Curtis Davies on the hand. However, referee Phil Dowd gave a free-kick to Birmingham, after Gary Cahill had pushed Davies in the back.
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