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One of FA Cup's major shocks
08/03/2008 22:09 - (SA)
Barnsley, England - Barnsley's FA Cup fairytale continued as Kayode Odejayi stunned Chelsea to give his side a sensational 1-0 victory over the holders at Oakwell on Saturday.
And earlier Portsmouth's Harry Redknapp pulled off an unique FA Cup hat-trick against Manchester United as Sulley Muntari's penalty sealed an upset win for Pompey.
Barnsley's Odejayi headed home a deep cross from Martin Devaney in the second half to book the Championship club a trip to Wembley in the semi-finals for the first time since 1912.
The Nigerian striker's goal clinched one of the greatest upsets in FA Cup history. Barnsley must wonder if they could even win the competition now.
After all they won at Liverpool in the previous round and, with Manchester United knocked out earlier on Saturday, the road to Wembley looks less daunting than ever before.
It was only Odejayi's second goal of the season and first since September, but by far the most important of his career. What affect it will have on Chelsea's increasingly beleaguered manager Avram Grant remain to be seen.
Grant was already feeling the heat from last month's League Cup final defeat against Tottenham, so it was a brave move to leave out both Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba in the hope he could cope without them against Simon Davey's underdogs.
It was a calculated gamble, not least because Liverpool left out Steven Gerrard in the fifth round and paid the ultimate price against the Tykes.
Promise almost paid off
Davey insisted his side would not be in awe of the Premier League giants and would take the game to them.
His promise almost paid off within two minutes when Brian Howard found himself with a shooting chance inside the penalty area but his effort was well blocked by Michael Essien.
Chelsea looked swift on the break and were threatening each time they entered the Barnsley half.
Their finishing was not up to usual standards, however, with Michael Ballack volleying high and wide on six minutes while Joe Cole did the same nine minutes later.
Rob Kozluk hurled himself at Cole to block the England international's goal bound strike in the 19th minute as Grant's men began to put some sustained pressure on the home side.
The Tykes were beginning to live off scraps but were almost gifted a priceless lead in the 21st minute when Carlo Cudicini, deputising for the injured Petr Cech, took too long to clear his lines.
His attempted hoof up field was blocked by Odejayi but to Cudicini's relief the ball trickled inches wide of the Italian's right hand post.
Kozluk had to be at his best again on 30 minutes when he intercepted a dangerous cross from Wayne Bridge underneath his own crossbar with Cole waiting to pounce.
This was far from the vintage Chelsea who dispatched Olympiakos so convincingly at Stamford Bridge in midweek and the longer the game went on the more confident the Tykes became. To such an extent that the home side wasted two glorious chances to take the lead before half-time.
Shot was blocked
The first of these fell to Istvan Ferenczi when a hopeful free kick was missed by Ricardo Carvalho and allowed to reach the Hungarian international close to goal.
He took the ball to his right to make a difficult angle for himself but with just Cudicini to beat he could only shoot wide.
Less than a minute later Odejayi found himself clean through but, despite outpacing Ricardo Carvalho, his shot was blocked by the legs of Cudicini.
Cole's cross just evaded Nicolas Anelka on the hour mark and it was to prove costly as Odejayi pounced in the 66th minute to send Oakwell into raptures.
Chelsea piled on the pressure in the closing stages and John Terry should have done better than fire wastefully over.
Shaun Wright-Phillips followed suit as Chelsea grew increasingly desperate before a minority of Barnsley's excited fans spilled onto the pitch prematurely.
They thought the game was over but the home supporters didn't have to wait long for their moment of glory as the whistle blew moments later to complete one of the FA Cup's biggest shocks.
- AFP
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