FA Cup: Birmingham City 2 Bolton 3

Bolton booked their spot in the FA Cup semi-finals with a late 3-2 victory over Birmingham City at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

Chung-Yong Lee put Wanderers ahead for a third time in the match with an open header across Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster in the 90th minute, finishing off Kevin Davies’ neat work to centre a long ball into City’s area.

Bolton had earlier taken the ascendancy on two occasions, but they struggled to seal the result until late as Alex McLeish’s side produced a similar resistance for the majority of the encounter that helped them win the Carling Cup on February 27.

Sweden striker Johan Elmander opened the scoring for Bolton in the 21st minute, slamming home a left-footed strike from just inside the area after being put through by a clever Ivan Klasnic flick-on.

Birmingham levelled when Cameron Jerome found the back of the net for just the second time since November, with the striker firing a low shot at the left corner which bobbled past diving Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen in the 38th minute.

City defender Curtis Davies was fortunate not to give away a penalty when replays showed he handled a high ball in the box early in the second half, but referee Phil Dowd could not save the former Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion stopper minutes later when he brought down Kevin Davies in the area.

Bolton captain Davies converted the spot kick in the 66th minute, before City’s Kevin Phillips seemingly sewed up a replay for the hosts with a well-weighted lob over Jaaskelainen in the 80th minute.

But any hope of a second trophy for Birmingham this campaign was shattered by Lee’s late winner, which sends Bolton to the final four of the English Cup for the first time since 2000.