Millwall 1 Leicester City 0: Lions roar back after red card to reach FA Cup quarter-finals

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James Benge18 February 2017

The 10 men of Millwall piled further the misery on beleaguered Premier League champions Leicester City with a deserved 1-0 win in the FA Cup fifth round.

Jake Cooper was dismissed early in the second half for a reckless challenge on Ahmed Musa, a second yellow card, but the Lions roared back with intent.

Shortly after Shinji Okazaki's shot from six yards was smothered by Jordan Archer, right-back Shaun Cummings gambled at the other end of the pitch, pouncing on hestiation by a hapless Leicester defence and win the game in the final minute.

Millwall had knocked out Bournemouth and Watford on their path to the fifth round and now claim their biggest scalp of the competition so far, while Claudio Ranieri & Co. will travel back to the King Power Stadium under further pressure as their plight takes another dire turn.

Leicester exploded out of the blocks at the Den, with bright young things Demarai Gray and Bartosz Kapuska leading the way, but they couldn’t make their early dominance pay.

On 10 minutes the former Birmingham winger took down a pass from Kaputska on the left edge of the box before expertly opening his body up to let fly towards the far post. Archer was static but the ball flew past both him and his goal.

Millwall’s back five were fearsome but they were aided in no small part by wasteful Leicester finishing, Ahmed Musa managing to hand the host a throw when he let fly from just outside the area. Moments later he was to be denied from close range as Byron Webster and company blocked his effort.

As the first half wore on Millwall grew in confidence, the vibrant Fred Onyedinma leading purposeful breaks forward. It was to be the Lions who spurned the half’s best chance, Calum Butcher heading straight at Ron-Robert Zieler when unmarked at a corner.

The hosts were holding firm in the first seven minutes of the second half until Jake Cooper, booked in the first half for kicking the ball when it was in Leicester goalkeeper Zieler’s hands, was given a second yellow for a needless foul on Musa on halfway.

But Millwall thrive in adversity and were the better side when down to ten men, even more organised in defence and dominant in attack as Onyedinma caused havoc off Steve Morison’s knockdowns.

Embattled Ranieri responded by throwing on his big guns, Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy replacing Kapuska and Gray, the visitors’ two most dangerous attackers.

But there seemed nothing Leicester could do to defy Millwall, who should have won it on 78 minutes when an unmarked Aiden O’Brien headed over. The visitors confidence ebbed away, Okazaki dithering when six yards out as Archer dived forward to block his effort from point-blank range.

The Lions pounced. Lee Gregory dropped deep and right-back Cummings burst through, held off Chillwell and slotted past Zieler. A third Premier League giant was downed, this the mightiest of them all.

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