Blackburn Rovers 4 Stoke City 1
Ten-man Stoke suffered FA Cup embarrassment at Ewood Park as they were torn apart 4-1 by a second-string Blackburn side with Josh King, one of those fringe players, scoring a hat-trick.
The 23-year-old, on only his 14th appearance this season and with just one league goal to his name, terrorised a Potters defence which was severely hampered by the sending off of Geoff Cameron just before half-time.
Former Rovers boss Mark Hughes, a three-time FA Cup winner with Manchester United, could only watch as the ex-Red Devils youth team player sent his side crashing out of the competition and Rovers into the quarter-finals for the second time in three years.
King's poacher's finish equalised Peter Crouch's early goal before he won the penalty from which Rudy Gestede scored his 14th of the campaign when he was pulled back by Cameron.
The 23-year-old Norway international had caused the visitors problems with his blistering pace before the break but he enjoyed the extra space available against 10 men for 45 minutes and twice raced clear to score with virtually identical goals just 10 minutes into the second half.
Despite beating another top-flight side Swansea at home in the last round, the priority for Rovers is to close the 10-point gap to the Sky Bet Championship promotion places so, with that in mind, manager Gary Bowyer made eight changes from the midweek win over Rotherham.
When Crouch, on target for the third successive match, smashed home a 10th-minute Victor Moses corner it appeared the script was being followed.
Marko Arnautovic and Mame Biram Diouf had chances to put the game bed inside half-an-hour but let Rovers off the hook and King, at the heart of every real threat, took full advantage.
Having created a good chance for Gestede after stripping Philipp Wollscheid for speed, only for his team-mate to fluff his shot, King was fouled by Cameron in the eight minutes of stoppage time for three lengthy injury breaks.
The Stoke defender was shown a straight red card by referee Anthony Taylor and Gestede did not make a mistake with his second chance from the spot.
Rovers ensured there would be no turnaround of momentum in the second half as King — had scored five goals in his previous 68 appearances — twice raced through to slot the ball past Butland in carbon-copy goals within five minutes of each other.
Stoke were deflated and dejected and home fans took great delight in taunting their former manager.
Derby County 1 Reading 2
Former Everton and Middlesbrough striker Ayegbeni Yakubu showed his class in front of goal as Reading swept into the last eight of the FA Cup at the expense of a Derby side reduced to 10 men for 50 minutes.
Derby looked the better side until full-back Stephen Warnock was sent off for a second yellow card in the 39th minute but Reading made the advantage count.
Hal Robson-Kanu's goal was cancelled out by Darren Bent but Yakubu, who was signed as a free agent during the January transfer window but has cost English clubs a total of more than #25million in transfer fees, netted the winner.
After early Derby pressure, the odds turned in Reading's favour when Warnock was sent off in the 39th minute for a lunge that left Jamie Mackie rolling in pain and produced a second yellow card from referee Craig Pawson.
Simon Cox had a powerful shot blocked as Reading tried to make their advantage count and their extra man paid off in the 53rd minute when a rapid counter-attack ended with the same player escaping on the right to deliver a clever pass for Robson-Kanu to curl left-footed inside the far post.
Reading, who had previously lost to Derby in the Championship and the Capital One Cup this season, stayed in front for only seven minutes and it was the in-form Bent who scored.
A right-wing cross was just too strong for Bent to meet but the ball was crossed again from the left by Craig Forsyth and this time the England striker made no mistake from close range — his fifth goal in as many games since joining the Rams on loan from Aston Villa and his ninth in his last 10 FA Cup appearances.
Mackie fired wide from 12 yards after in what was becoming a rip-roaring cup tie and nine minutes from time Reading got back in front when a Derby attack fizzled out and left them short-handed at the back.
Cox swept the ball straight through Derby’s floundering back line and there was substitute Yakubu to underline his quality by powering forward and firing home a clinical left-footed shot from the edge of the box.
