The Road to Wembley - The story so far.

Ask any West Brom fan back in January when the FA Cup adventure started if they expected to get this far and it would be a small number who hand on heart could answer yes. Albion have done well to avoid Premiership opposition thus far, but that hasn’t meant that their run in has been anywhere near easy. So Astle Central takes a look back at Albion’s road to Wembley.

Back in January, the Baggies FA Cup ran began with a 3^rd round draw away to Charlton Athletic at the Valley.  A tough draw for Albion to Championship opposition who at the time where battling for one of two automatic promotion spots like themselves.   

Their cup run could not have got off to a worse start, a goal behind after just 90 seconds after Chinese international Zheng Zhi fired home an Addicks opener.  But in the 34^th minute Ishmael Miller found the equaliser after Greening and Brunt had caused severe confusion in the Charlton defence with clever interplay.  But neither side could find the winner, forcing a replay at the Hawthorns midweek. 

The replay couldn’t have been any more dramatic if it had tried.  In a third meeting between the two sides in just four weeks, it was Albion this time that opened the scoring, Roman Bednar putting the Baggies a goal up on 14 minutes.  A 51st minute goal from James Morrison doubled the Baggies lead, but Charlton pulled one back on 64 minutes when Darren Ambrose tapped into an empty net. 

Just seconds from exiting the cup, Charlton found an equaliser in the second minute of injury time through Dickson, forcing an unfruitful 30 minutes of extra time before a nerve wracking set of penalties, which Albion won 4-3. 

The 4^th round brought a trip to Darren Ferguson’s Peterborough United, which saw the Baggies pick up a comfortable 3-0 victory.  Roman Bednar hitting Albion’s first on 8 minutes, Robert Koren on 15 minutes, and the prolific scorer Kevin Phillips with a 58^th minute penalty. 

The Championships leading scorers went two better in their next cup fixture, putting an impressive five goals past Coventry City in Round 5.  In another fixture against Championship opposition it was Chris Brunt that opened Albion’s account in the 12^th minute, heading home from a perfect Bednar cross.   

The provider of the first goal bagged the next two goals for the Baggies, an horrendous mix up between Sky Blues keeper Andy Marshall and defender Ward allowing him to steal in for his first after Coventry had been reduced to ten men, and a 69^th minute penalty for his second after De Zeeuw had handled in the area. 

Ishmael Miller netted the Baggies fourth goal on 76 minutes, and just two minutes later Zoltan Gera added more woe to Coventry as he secured a place in the quarter finals with Albion’s fifth. 

Amazingly missing Premiership opposition again, the Baggies were handed a quarter finals trip to League One’s Bristol Rovers, the lowest ranked side left in the contest.  It was another five goal thriller for Albion fans, although this time there was no goal for Roman Bednar after he had netted in all of the previous rounds. 

Morrison opened the scoring on 16 minutes, and on the half hour mark Ishmael Miller doubled their lead.  But less than sixty seconds later Bristol had snatched one back, Coles taking advantage of a shaky Albion defence.  Miller was on target again in the 69^th minute to restore Albion’s two goal advantage, and he completed his hatrick on 85 minutes with Albion’s fifth goal after Kevin Phillips had scored the fourth on 73 minutes. 

It was a bizarre Semi final draw, with all of the ‘big four’ having been knocked out the only surviving top flight club were Harry Redknapp’s Pompey.  Cardiff City and Barnsley also joined the Baggies in the hat after beating Middlesbrough and Chelsea respectively.  For the first time this year Albion were drawn against Premiership opposition.  But one thing is for certain, as second favourites to lift the cup behind Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion will not get a better chance than this for many years to come.