FOOTBALL was never meant to be fair, but it was always meant to be absorbing. Take yesterday’s peculiar tussle at Ewood Park. A first half of almost unmitigated torpor concluded with Blackburn Rovers seemingly sauntering into the last eight.

Then, a second half of almost unmitigated excitement saw Coventry City batter their supposed betters, claw their way into the lead and then stumble at the very death. If the first half was the FA Cup at its most lukewarm, the second was a timely reminder that it can still stir the soul.

For all Sam Allardyce’s lip service vis-a-vis FA Cup progression, rare starts for Danny Simpson, Gael Givet, Zurab Khizanishvili and Carlos Villanueva told their own tale, if not quite as poignantly as the swathes of empty seating in the home sections.

In contrast, Coventry’s omissions were all enforced — not least their goalkeeper Kieran Westwood, who was taken ill during the warm up, the latest victim of a bug that coursed through the City camp on Friday evening.

The City supporters, 4,500 of them, had barely got through the first chorus of their Eton Boating Song anthem when their team fell behind after one minute 26 seconds. Paul Robinson punted a long free kick into the penalty area. Christopher Samba and James McPake leapt together and the ball fell to the lurking Roque Santa Cruz, unmarked six yards out. The mercurial Paraguayan drove across Andy Marshall and into the net.

As the silence descended more rapidly than the Lancashire murk, City had just one first half moment, when Aron Gunnarsson ghosted through a static Rovers defence to head Daniel Fox’s 32nd-minute free kick wide from just five yards out. The otherwise excellent Gunnarsson’s time would come. Instead, with Villanueva, the on-loan Chilean, a will o’ the wisp whom City could never quite shackle, Rovers controlled the game. Villanueva, Jason Roberts and Santa Cruz spurned chances and soon the tie was theirs to lose. Indeed, they almost managed it.

“After conceding so early, I was happy being one down at half-time,” admitted visiting manager Chris Coleman. “We knew that if we scored, they’d get nervous.”

At half-time, Coleman told his team to hold out for 10 second-half minutes, after which he would change formation. Rovers’ laid-back approach ensured City would not concede and when he introduced masked striker Leon Best, the tie turned. Attacking their noisy support, City suddenly looked the most likely quarter-finalists and when Rovers struggled to clear a Fox corner from the right, the ball came back to the full-back. Fox crossed again, Khizanishvili headed clear, but only as far as Gunnarsson, 20 yards out. With one touch the Icelander steadied himself and then crashed the fiercest of piledrivers beyond Robinson.

Now, at last, we had what those with sepia-tinted memories refer to as a cup tie. Rovers wanted anything but a replay, Coleman had already said he would be delighted with one. Furious with themselves for letting City seize the initiative, Rovers momentarily threatened. Givet was unfortunate to see his headed goal after David Dunn’s free kick disallowed for almost imperceptible shirt-pulling (“If that was a foul there’d be 320 fouls every game,” mused Allardyce), while one gormless fan ambled on to the pitch, clad only in underwear and attempted to distribute roses among the bemused players.

The buffoon had mistimed his idiocy, for City were about to go ahead. Clinton Morrison found Freddy Eastwood, who nodded the ball into Doyle’s path. His first-time shot deflected off Samba, looped over Robinson and City were ahead. “Same old problem,” sighed Allardyce. “We can’t finish teams off when we’re ahead.”

Having spent much of the afternoon in second gear, Rovers found it difficult to engage themselves and only the eyebrow-raising sight of five added minutes galvanised them. All thoughts of a replay evaporated as they slung men forwards. One of them, substitute Keith Treacy tried a hopeful potshot, but, alas for City, a deflection off Scott Dann caused Marshall to fumble and there, pouncing like a panther, was Samba, who swivelled, powered home and, as if unaware this was Valentine’s Day, broke 4,500 Midlands hearts.

BLACKBURN: Robinson 6, Simpson 6, Samba 6, Khizanishvili 6, Givet 6, Villanueva 7, Dunn 6 (Treacy 71min), Tugay 5 (Andrews 65min), Warnock 5, Santa Cruz 6, Roberts 5 (McCarthy 78min)

COVENTRY: Marshall 6, Osbourne 6, McPake 5 (Dann h-t, 6), Ward 7, Fox 8, Henderson 6, Beuzelin 6 (Best 53min, 6), Gunnarsson 8, Doyle 7, Eastwood 6, Morrison 5

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football