Winners and Losers From the FA Cup Fourth Round Draw

By: Daryl | January 7th, 2008

Havant & Waterlooville winnners Former FA Cup winners John Aldridge and Alan Cork rummaged around amongst the shiny balls at the English FA’s Soho Square lair this morning, deciding the fate of all FA Cup Third Round survivors. As with any draw, it was good news for some (like little Havant & Waterlooville, pictured) but bad news for others. Read on to see who’s smiling after today’s draw and who’s starting to see it from Dave Kitson’s point of view.

WINNERS:

Havant & Waterlooville, the smallest team left in the FA Cup, now have extra motivation for winning their Third Round replay against Swansea City next weekend. The winners will likely get a day out at Anfield, assuming Liverpool beat Luton in their replay. That’s game would not only be a big payday for a tiny team, it would bring massive media attention as the whole of England hopes for a good old-fashioned giant-killing.

Swansea City will also be looking forward to a trip to Anfield, should the Swans break the hearts of underdog-lovers everywhere and by going to H&L and winning.

Mansfield Town, from way down in League Two, got a home game against wobbly Middlesbrough. Liverpool vs Havant & Waterlooville will get all the Fourth Round attention (if it goes ahead) but Mansfield probably have a more realistic chance of causing an upset.

Stoke City will need another strong performance to beat Newcastle at St James’s Park in their Third Round replay, but the prize for doing that will be a trip to play Arsenal: The Next Generation at Ashburton Grove, the Premier League’s newest, shiniest stadium.

LOSERS:

Coventry City’s reward for upsetting Blackburn 4-1 is a home game against either Walsall or Millwall. You can almost smell the excitement.

League One teams Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town both pulled off giant-killings this weekend, beating Everton and Birmingham City respectively. Fate has drawn them against each other, but at least that means there’ll definitely be a League One team in the FA Cup Fifth Round.

West Ham still have to beat Man City away in a Third Round replay, but they’d be well advised not to do that. An away game at Sheffield United waits for the winner of that replay, and the Blades fans and players would love nothing more than revenge against the club they feel cheated them out of a place in the Premiership by fielding Carlos Tevez and getting away with it.

The FA Cup Fourth Round draw in full:

Arsenal v Stoke City/Newcastle
Coventry v Walsall/Millwall
Oldham v Huddersfield Town
Swindon/Barnet v Fulham/Bristol Rovers
Wigan v Chelsea
Luton/Liverpool v Swansea/Havant & Waterlooville
Southend v Barnsley
Southampton v Norwich/Bury
Man Utd v Tottenham/Reading
Portsmouth v Plymouth
Derby/Sheff Wed v Preston
Watford v Wolves
Peterborough v Charlton/West Brom
Sheff Utd v West Ham/Man City
Mansfield v Middlesbrough
Tranmere/Hereford v Cardiff

Games will be played Saturday 26th and 27th January.