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February 19, 2012, Sunday
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CHELSEA coach Andre Villas-Boas came under even greater pressure yesterday after a 1-1 draw in London against Birmingham City in the fifth round of the FA Cup left the English Premier League club facing an unwanted replay.
Villas-Boas acknowledged this week that he had lost the support of some players after the west London club slipped to fifth in the Premier League and his team was jeered at Stamford Bridge after it needed a 62nd-minute equalizer from Daniel Sturridge to avoid a humiliating defeat.
"It was a quite poor result of course," Villas-Boas said. "1-1 is not what we were expecting but it gives us another chance at Birmingham to continue trying to win the trophy.
"The aggression was there and the desire and ambition, but I think Birmingham matched us today in that sense."
Second-tier (Championship) side Birmingham lost captain Stephen Carr to a 12th-minute injury but took the lead eight minutes later when David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic failed to clear a corner kick, giving David Murphy the chance to smash the ball into the net from close range.
It was only the fourth goal Chelsea conceded in 12 FA Cup matches - a streak that includes the 2009 and '10 titles.
Chelsea missed the chance to level the scores when Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle saved Juan Mata's 22nd-minute penalty, awarded when Wade Elliott fouled Ramires, and the team was jeered off at the interval.
There were some cheers when Villas-Boas replaced the struggling Fernando Torres with Didier Drogba at halftime and even more when Sturridge headed in Ivanovic's cross, but the jeers returned when the coach hauled off Mata to bring on Frank Lampard late on.
Later in the day, Arsenal was traveling to Sunderland in an all-top-flight encounter, while fellow Premier League clubs Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City face Championship sides Blackpool, Millwall and Leicester City, respectively.
Favorite Tottenham Hotspur travels to League One (third tier) Stevenage today.
In Germany, Hoffenheim's new coach Markus Babbel was unable to mark his home debut with a win on Friday as Mainz came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga.
The home side went ahead in the ninth minute when the unfortunate Nikolce Noveski deflected Boris Vukcevic's cross into his own net for his sixth ever own goal - a Bundesliga joint record.
Noveski also scored an own goal when Mainz hosted Hoffenheim earlier this season.
Mohamed Zidan scored in the third consecutive game following his winter transfer from Borussia Dortmund when he volleyed in Radoslav Zabavnik's cross in the 29th.
Both mid-table sides found it hard to control the ball or dictate play in the second half.
It was Hoffenheim's sixth consecutive draw at home, while Mainz hasn't won away from home for 10 games. "We're getting too little reward for the effort we're putting in," Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel said.
Babbel took over from the sacked Holger Stanislawski on February 10, having been sacked by Hertha Berlin in December. His last game in charge of Berlin was a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim.
"We have to be happy with the point," Babbel said.
Villas-Boas acknowledged this week that he had lost the support of some players after the west London club slipped to fifth in the Premier League and his team was jeered at Stamford Bridge after it needed a 62nd-minute equalizer from Daniel Sturridge to avoid a humiliating defeat.
"It was a quite poor result of course," Villas-Boas said. "1-1 is not what we were expecting but it gives us another chance at Birmingham to continue trying to win the trophy.
"The aggression was there and the desire and ambition, but I think Birmingham matched us today in that sense."
Second-tier (Championship) side Birmingham lost captain Stephen Carr to a 12th-minute injury but took the lead eight minutes later when David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic failed to clear a corner kick, giving David Murphy the chance to smash the ball into the net from close range.
It was only the fourth goal Chelsea conceded in 12 FA Cup matches - a streak that includes the 2009 and '10 titles.
Chelsea missed the chance to level the scores when Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle saved Juan Mata's 22nd-minute penalty, awarded when Wade Elliott fouled Ramires, and the team was jeered off at the interval.
There were some cheers when Villas-Boas replaced the struggling Fernando Torres with Didier Drogba at halftime and even more when Sturridge headed in Ivanovic's cross, but the jeers returned when the coach hauled off Mata to bring on Frank Lampard late on.
Later in the day, Arsenal was traveling to Sunderland in an all-top-flight encounter, while fellow Premier League clubs Everton, Bolton Wanderers and Norwich City face Championship sides Blackpool, Millwall and Leicester City, respectively.
Favorite Tottenham Hotspur travels to League One (third tier) Stevenage today.
In Germany, Hoffenheim's new coach Markus Babbel was unable to mark his home debut with a win on Friday as Mainz came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw in the Bundesliga.
The home side went ahead in the ninth minute when the unfortunate Nikolce Noveski deflected Boris Vukcevic's cross into his own net for his sixth ever own goal - a Bundesliga joint record.
Noveski also scored an own goal when Mainz hosted Hoffenheim earlier this season.
Mohamed Zidan scored in the third consecutive game following his winter transfer from Borussia Dortmund when he volleyed in Radoslav Zabavnik's cross in the 29th.
Both mid-table sides found it hard to control the ball or dictate play in the second half.
It was Hoffenheim's sixth consecutive draw at home, while Mainz hasn't won away from home for 10 games. "We're getting too little reward for the effort we're putting in," Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel said.
Babbel took over from the sacked Holger Stanislawski on February 10, having been sacked by Hertha Berlin in December. His last game in charge of Berlin was a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim.
"We have to be happy with the point," Babbel said.
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