Benni McCarthy produced a wonder strike to earn Blackburn Rovers an FA Cup quarter finals place and hand Arsenal their second cup defeat in the space of four days. The Gunners were closer to winning the game but they had to rue missed chances and some heroic goalkeeping from Brad Friedel who continued his role in denying the Gunners as he did in the first meeting which ended 0-0. The talking point of the game though was the controversial refereeing decisions by Graham Poll who turned down two reasonable first half penalty appeals for Arsenal. Jermeie Aliadiere was tripped by Friedel when the Arsenal striker's heavy first touch forced the American goalkeeper to challenge him but the referee waved play on.
More disappointment for Henry an his teammates A more convincing case came when Brett Emerton clearly brought down Freddie Ljungberg in the box but again Mr. Poll did not react. Julio Baptista missed a clear first half chance when he headed wide from close range before being denied in the second half by two fine saves from American international Friedel. Arsenal continued pushing forward, but were punished just four minutes from time when substitute McCarthy cut inside Philippe Senderos before firing a superb curling shot past the helpless Manuel Almunia. Arsenal's defeat is the third in a row in three different competitions after the Carling Cup final 2-1 loss to Chelsea and the Champions League 1-0 away defeat to PSV.
