Manchester City 1-2 West Ham United
FA Cup Sixth Round
Monday 20 March 2006
The City of Manchester Stadium
Winning club receives £300,000
£265,000 television payment for each club



West Ham United booked their place in the FA Cup Semi-Finals thanks to a brace from striker Dean Ashton in a thrilling match at the City of Manchester Stadium.

The £7.25m signing from Norwich scored his fourth and fifth goals for the club after putting in a devastating performance.

Ashton scored in either half to knock 10-man Manchester City out of the competition despite a late goal from Kiki Musampa.

Ashton broke the deadlock in the 41st minute with a wonderful solo effort. The striker raced through the City defence and cut inside Sylvan Distin before firing the ball past David James at the near post.

The goal sparked City into life and they nearly levelled the score four minutes later through Sun Jihai. Shaka Hislop fumbled a teasing cross into the path of midfielder, but his overhead kick was cleared off the line by Paul Konchesky.

Until then both sides failed to create a clear-cut opportunity to open the scoring in an otherwise equal match.

But Stuart Pearce’s side’s hopes of getting back into the game were dealt a blow when they were reduced to ten men in the 56th minute.

Jihai lashed out after tussling with Matthew Etherington and received a straight red card from referee Howard Webb. Matters got worse for City when West Ham doubled their lead in the 69th minute when Ashton scored his second.

Musampa was caught in possession by Nigel Reo-Coker who played in Youssi Benayoun.

The Israeli international unselfishly fed Ashton who slammed the ball past James from six yards. Musampa then made amends for his earlier mistake when he grabbed a goal back for City in the 85th minute.

The midfielder volleyed in Richard Dunne’s cross from the edge of the area to set up a tense finale.

But despite their late pressure, City were unable to find a way past Hislop as West Ham clung on to their one-goal advantage to make the last four of the competition.