Sunderland and Birmingham to face off again

Tranmere and Millwall joined Manchester United in the last eight of the FA Cup, with home victories over Swansea and Burnley respectively, while West Ham and Fulham must do it all over again, as will Sunderland and Birmingham.

Tranmere needed to come from behind to see off their Third Division opponents, after ex-Rovers striker Andy Robinson had given Swansea a 16th-minute lead.

Rovers responded to level with a Ryan Taylor penalty eight minutes later and went ahead in the 59th minute when Iain Hume cut inside and unleashed a fierce shot which Roger Freestone could do little about.

Swansea’s hopes of forcing their way back into the game were dashed when Alan Tate was sent off following an incident with Taylor six minutes from time.

Millwall were made to toil by First Division rivals Burnley before eventually prevailing 1-0 at the New Den.

Paul Ifill and Danny Dichio both spurned good chances to open the scoring for the Lions in the first half but that pair continued to cause havoc after the break.

Ifill hit the woodwork in the 57th minute as the Lions again forced the pace. The goal they deserved finally came in the 70th minute when Dichio reacted to an Ifill cross to score.

Burnley were reduced to 10 men soon afterwards when Paul Weller was sent off for violent conduct, and Millwall held on comfortably.

Premiership Fulham were forced to settle for a replay after being held to a goalless draw by London rivals West Ham at Loftus Road.

Carlos Bocanegra hit the post for the home side. But the Hammers were not intimidated – and Marlon Harewood, Brian Deane and Michael Carrick all forced good saves from Edwin van der Sar.

Today’s other fifth-round tie between Sunderland and Birmingham at the Stadium of Light is due to kick off at 5.35pm.

Manchester United claimed their place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup today with a comfortable 4-2 win over rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford.

United played most of the game with 10 men after Gary Neville was sent off for head-butting Steve McManaman five minutes before the interval.

Alex Ferguson’s side led 1-0 from a Paul Scholes strike at the time, but City could not force their way back into the game.

Two further strikes from Ruud van Nistelrooy and a Cristiano Ronaldo effort killed the visitors off – with replies from Michael Tarnat and Robbie Fowler too late for another great City comeback.

Sunderland 1 Birmingham 1

First division Sunderland kept their FA Cup dreams alive with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Barclaycard Premiership Birmingham.

Mikael Forssell gave the visitors a 28th-minute lead against the run of play with a well-taken individual goal.

But Kevin Kyle levelled 11 minutes later with a perfectly-placed header, and Stephen Wright might have won it on 51 minutes when his shot came back off the bar.