West Ham United 4 Doncaster Rovers 0
West Ham cruised into the FA Cup fifth round with a routine 4-0 home win over Doncaster.
First-half goals from Pablo Fornals and Andriy Yarmolenko put David Moyes’ side in control and after Andy Butler put through his own net, debutant Oladapo Afolayan added the cherry on top with a late fourth.
The win sets up a last-16 meeting with one of Manchester United or Liverpool for the Hammers, who have now won their last five matches.
Moyes made eight changes from the victory against West Brom with midweek matchwinner Michail Antonio and the only forward at the club one of several to drop to the bench.
Winger Yarmolenko led the line in his absence and it was good work by the Ukrainian after he drifted to the right which contributed towards a second-minute opener.
The makeshift forward produced a fine through ball to Ryan Fredericks with the outside of his boot and the defender had time to pick out the onrushing Fornals, who fired into the bottom corner for his third goal of the season.
Doncaster had won seven of their previous eight games and boss Darren Moore picked a strong XI, but they had no answer to the hosts’ firepower.
Moyes handed a debut to Afolayan late on and saw the forward grab the club’s fourth with 12 minutes left in the capital.
Fredericks got forward well and saw an effort pushed out by Balcombe, which was straight into the path of former Solihull Moors forward Afolayan and he tapped in from close range to mark his first Hammers appearance with a goal.
There was still time for young goalkeeper Nathan Trott and fellow academy graduate Jamal Baptiste to be given debuts on a pleasing day all-round for three-time FA Cup winners West Ham.
Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Blackpool 1
Yves Bissouma’s stunning strike helped Brighton avoid an FA Cup upset as they scraped into the fifth round with a 2-1 win over League One Blackpool.
Albion midfielder Bissouma, who has been linked with a host of Europe’s top clubs in recent weeks, underlined his undoubted ability by opening the scoring with a thunderous drive from fully 30 yards.
The visitors briefly levelled through Gary Madine’s close-range finish but were unable to claim a second successive Premier League scalp as Seagulls midfielder Steven Alzate claimed a fortuitous second-half winner.
Albion’s narrow victory books a fifth-round trip to either Brentford or Leicester and provides a timely confidence boost ahead of Wednesday’s top-flight showdown with fellow strugglers Fulham.
Sheffield United 2 Plymouth Argyle 1
Sheffield United secured just their third win of the season as fans’ favourite Billy Sharp helped Chris Wilder’s men avoid an FA Cup upset against Plymouth.
The Blades have endured a wretched campaign but the Premier League’s bottom side have shown flickers of life recently, making it three wins from four matches in all competitions on Saturday.
Veteran striker Sharp was the key man at Bramall Lane, providing a lovely cross for Chris Basham’s opener before scoring a fine goal early in the second half of a 2-1 fourth-round win against League One side Plymouth.
Panutche Camara’s goal made it a nervy final 15 minutes, but the Blades held on to set up a home fifth-round tie against Bristol City.
Swansea City 5 Nottingham Forest 1
Swansea strolled into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 5-1 victory over Championship rivals Nottingham Forest.
Doubles from Matt Grimes and Liam Cullen, as well as Oli Cooper’s first senior goal, sent Swansea into the last 16 of the competition for the third time in four seasons.
Anthony Knockaert gave Forest hope at 2-1 at the start of the second half, and they will no doubt question the legitimacy of Swansea’s third goal from the penalty spot.
But Swansea showed the form which has taken them to second spot in the Championship in extending their unbeaten home run at the Liberty Stadium to 10 games.
Swansea gave an instant debut to Conor Hourihane, the Republic of Ireland midfielder signed on loan from Aston Villa this week.
Barnsley 1 Norwich City 0
Callum Styles fired a deserved winner as Barnsley beat Norwich 1-0 to reach the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in eight years.
Man-of-the-match Styles struck the decisive goal early in the second half as the Reds gained revenge for their narrow defeat to the Championship leaders earlier this month.
Victory for Barnsley sets up a potential home tie against Chelsea, who the South Yorkshire side famously beat at Oakwell in 2008 to reach the semi-finals.
Millwall 0 Bristol City 3
A dominant second-half performance eased Bristol City past Millwall at The Den, with a 3-0 win securing their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup for just the second time in 20 years.
The visitors took the lead against the run of play through a Famara Diedhiou penalty and despite creating a number of opportunities, Millwall were unable to get the better of Max O’Leary in the Bristol City goal.
The all-Championship encounter was effectively settled by a deflected Nahki Wells free-kick just before the hour mark, before Antoine Semenyo capped a thoroughly professional performance from Dean Holden’s side.
