Football story by Boris Webb, Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:36:01 GMT


Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough played out a tame draw at the Valley in the fourth and the last quarterfinal of the FA Cup last night. After three successive nights with three successive results, which saw Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham make it to the last four, Charlton and Boro decided to extend the suspense for some more days.

The best chance of what turned out to be a drab encounter fell to Charlton's Hermann Hreidarsson, but Boro's keeper, Mark Schwarzer, who has been instrumental in his side progressing this far, saved brilliantly to deny the center-half. Before the beginning Tony Christie, led the start at the Valley in a rendition of Is This The Way To Amarillo? and it was clear that after this football was going to be just a dessert. But even that turned out to be a bitter one and Boro, who have UEFA Cup commitments would certainly not relish playing an extra match. In all fairness, Boro had their chance to forge ahead when Aiyegbeni Yakubu had a clear header from Franck Queudrue's cross, but he muffed it up and headed over. And even though both managers employed strikers and wingers after the break hoping to avoid a replay, the game ended in stalemate. The replay will be played at Riverside on April 12.

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley was disappointed with the draw, "We had chances in the first-half but didn't take them - in the end we both went for it, but no-one could score," he said. "We're delighted to be still in the hat - not many of us have been in a semi-final draw before. We've got a decent record at The Riverside and earlier this season we did very well up there in the league." Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren praised his goalkeeper, "Charlton hit us with everything and the two centre halves as well as Mark Schwarzer and goalkeeper saved us. They showed their experience. We had chances in the second half, but a draw was probably a fair result," he said.

Match Details
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

Charlton: Myhre, Young, Perry, Hreidarsson, Powell, Kishishev (Rommedahl 62), Holland, Hughes, Thomas, Darren Bent, Bartlett (Bothroyd 76).

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Cattermole, Boateng, Mendieta (Morrison 64), Downing, Hasselbaink, Yakubu (Viduka 68).

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