Sheffield United put Fulham to the sword this afternoon and will be disappointed to have not emerged victorious. Chris Porter gave the Blades the lead after 30 minutes but at the beginning of the second period the Blades were reduced to 10 men as Michael Doyle lashed out. With eight minutes to go Rodallega sent the game to a replay with a clean strike. Hugo Rodallega had an early chance to give the visitors the lead but he headed Giorgos Karagounis' header just over the Sheffield United crossbar. Fulham were forced into an early change as John Arne Riise makes way to be replaced by Plumain, Damien Duff moves to left-back. As the rain picked up Jose Baxter had a good opportunity to give the Blades the lead from a free-kick in a central area but his strike caused no real danger and went the wrong side of the post. On the half hour mark the League One side took the lead. An energetic drive forward from Harry Maguire resulted in him driving the ball towards goal, where Chris Porter got the decisive touch to send it past David Stockdale. At the interval it was the hosts that went into the dressing room with the lead, while the Premier League side were trailing and not at all looking in good form. The Cottagers started the second period far more brightly as Pajtim Kasami drove a shot narrowly past George Longs post from just outside the box. Shortly after the home side were reduced to ten men. Michael Doyle lashed out at his opponent in an off the ball incident, forcing Andre Marriner to show the red card. However the dismissal didn't change United's outlook and immediately after they were on the attack with Ryan Flynn forcing a decent save from the leg of Stockdale. Fulham tried to get back into the game by introducing Darren Bent and Adel Taarabt but it was the Blades that looked more likely to score, with Marriner turning down a penalty appeal which infuriated Brian Clough. The Premier League side finally pulled level with 15 minutes to go as Rodallega fired a low shot from outside the area into the bottom corner of the net. Damien Duff came a whisker away from giving Fulham the lead as his deflected shot flew just wide before Darren Bent missed a sitter minutes later. The result means the two sides will have to do it all again at Craven Cottage for a place in the fifth round and they will find out their potential opponents in this afternoons draw.
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
