Southampton booked an FA Cup quarter-final appointment with holders Manchester
United after edging past Brentford in a full-blooded fifth-round replay at
Griffin Park on Tuesday night.
Harry Redknapp's weakened side extinguished the Bees' cup dream but had to
wait until injury time to guarantee the result as striker Peter Crouch ended the
Coca-Cola League One outfit's brave challenge.
Brentford raced into a fourth-minute lead through Eddie Hutchinson and were
the more ambitious side for long periods of the first half as they pegged back
their Premiership opponents with some enterprising play.
But Crouch levelled in the 10th minute to keep Saints firmly in the hunt and
they grew stronger in the second half with Kevin Phillips - back in the starting
line-up after his ankle problem - grabbing a 67th-minute lead before Crouch
added a breakaway third.
Saints' rearguard was under the cosh early on, however, as a free-kick from
Jay Tabb caused a few anxious moments in the Saints box as the ball fell to an
unmarked Hutchinson, but his mis-hit shot bounced off the floor and sailed
wide.
The Brentford duo were in the heat of the action a heartbeat later and stunned
visiting fans by giving their side the lead with just four minutes on the
clock.
Tabb tried his luck from the edge of the area and when the ball rebounded off
Saints' onrushing defence it fell kindly to Hutchinson who had time to tee up
his shot and rifle home.
Saints levelled six minutes later when Mikael Nilsson found Phillips who had
ghosted into space before testing Bees goalkeeper Stuart Nelson with a tricky
shot which he parried into the path of Crouch.
With no-one back to help out the stranded Nelson, Crouch was given the simple
task of tapping home and he made no mistake from close range.
Deon Burton saw a promising shot deflect off Calum Davenport into the stands
while Tabb found the arms of Saints goalkeeper Paul Smith with one disappointing
shot as Brentford regained the upper hand.
Tabb hit a powerful shot off-target following a mazy run into the box from
Andrew Frampton which caused panic in the Saints defence as Brentford continued
to look the more threatening side in attack.
Play switched from end to end but Saints' poor final ball was proving costly -
hardly a problem affecting the Bees, who created a superb chance for Hutchinson
in the 34th minute.
John Salako floated a pass to the Brentford midfielder, who struck the
crossbar with a cracking header that had beaten Smith and Burton's rebound was
cleared off the goal-line.
The home side camped themselves in Saints' half in the last exchanges of the
first period but the Premiership club held firm as the Bees piled forward.
Tabb went racing through on goal two minutes after the restart but Andreas
Jakobsson tracked him all the way and the eventual shot was hurried as the
midfielder made his presence felt.
Phillips steered the ball into the back of the net after picking up Crouch's
pass but the flag went up for offside, ushering in a dull spell in which neither
side could make any impression.
Crouch floated a header out of danger when he should have done better before a
marauding run from Phillips was halted by a perfectly-timed tackle from Michael
Dobson.
Brentford were struggling to find the same amount of space as they had done in
the first half and the numbers of chances they were creating dried up as Saints
began to gain the upper hand.
And the Premiership club made their superiority tell by taking the lead in the
67th minute with a slick counter-attack started by Olivier Bernard's surging run
from defence.
It was three against three with Bernard feeding Crouch, whose rapid square
ball was met by Phillips at the far post and the former Sunderland marksman
bundled home.
Burton was put in one-on-one with Smith but he squandered an almost immediate
opportunity to drag his side level before Saints put the result beyond doubt in
injury time.
Substitute Neil McCann crossed to Crouch at the far post and with Brentford's
defence still tracking back from an earlier attack, the rangy marksman had no
problem finding the back of the net to set up a visit from Sir Alex Ferguson's
men.
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