Samba late show denies Coventry

Christopher Samba’s stoppage time equaliser denied Coventry an FA Cup fifth round upset as Blackburn lived to fight another day after a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park.

Second-half goals from Aron Gunnarsson and Michael Doyle saw Coventry take charge of the contest after Roque Santa Cruz’s early strike for the home side, but they were left frustrated right at the death.

The Championship side had knocked Rovers out with a 4-1 victory in the third round at Ewood Park last season but their chances of a repeat appeared slim when Santa Cruz fired in with less then 90 seconds gone.

Gunnarsson equalised just after the hour and with a quarter of an hour remaining, Doyle’s deflected strike put Coventry ahead.

But two minutes into injury time at the end, Samba rescued a replay for Blackburn with a close-range effort after Coventry goalkeeper Andy Marshall failed to hold Keith Treacy’s shot.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce made six changes to the side beaten 2-0 by Aston Villa last weekend with South African star Benni McCarthy left on the bench.

But Rovers still managed to move ahead with just a minute and a half on the clock with Santa Cruz’s powerful drive.

Paul Robinson’s long punt into the area saw Samba challenge James McPake in the air and the ball fell for Santa Cruz, who fired home from a tight angle to claim his first goal since the 3-1 win over Liverpool at the start of December.

The visitors almost got back on level terms quickly when Daniel Fox’s raking pass picked out Jordan Henderson but the on-loan Sunderland winger dragged his shot wide.

Jason Roberts should have doubled the lead when he lobbed Santa Cruz’s flick-on over Isaac Osbourne only to screw his shot wide from six yards.

Carlos Villaneuva curled just wide from distance and David Dunn also had a drilled effort held by Marshall as Blackburn continued to dominate.

Just after the half hour, the un-marked Gunnarsson managed to head well wide from five yards from Fox’s free-kick.

Villaneuva had a drilled shot held by Marshall and then the Chilean crossed for Santa Cruz, who hit the side-netting.

And as Blackburn looked to finish the game before the interval, Dunn slipped the ball to Santa Cruz and the striker came up with a thumping drive that just missed the target.

Two minutes after the restart, Villaneuva’s deflected free-kick was just pushed around the post by Marshall while at the other end, Freddy Eastwood’s shot was deflected into the path of Henderson, who sliced wide.

But just after the hour, the Championship side were level when Fox’s corner was only half cleared and Gunnarsson’s powerful strike beat Robinson from more than 20 yards.

Blackburn were reeling and Gunnarrsson looked on his way to scoring again after beating three players but substitute Scott Dann foiled his chances of unleashing a decent shot.

With 14 minutes left Coventry took the lead when Doyle raced on to Eastwood’s header and his stab at goal deflected off Samba and looped over Robinson.

Allardyce threw McCarthy on and the forward had a goal ruled out for offside before Blackburn’s late pressure finally told.