After a short 15-minute break, both teams returned to the field.
Cambridge United kicked off, but Portsmouth quickly won the ball back. Diarra sent a direct over-the-top long pass to Crouch!
Crouch dribbled the ball, charging towards the Cambridge United penalty area. Before he could adjust his steps, he saw Tyreke Warren flying towards him with both feet!
A wary Crouch immediately jumped up. Warren directly slid the ball out of bounds, incidentally sending the off-balance Crouch tumbling heavily to the ground!
Crouch rubbed his slightly aching right leg, glaring angrily at Warren, who remained expressionless and simply turned and ran back to his position.
Facing a Cambridge United that had clearly increased its defensive intensity in the second half, Portsmouth players were constantly being knocked to the ground, complaining bitterly!
Craig frequently stopped the game, occasionally issuing yellow card warnings to Cambridge United players!
Kranjcar was exceptionally active in the second half. In just a few minutes, he had already delivered two highly threatening crosses from the wing. It was only unfortunate that Portsmouth's forwards failed to capitalize on the opportunities, otherwise Cambridge United's goal would likely have fallen already!
In the 53rd minute of the second half, Cambridge United attacked the front field, but Portsmouth once again intercepted the ball!
Diop passed the ball to Kanu in the front field, and Kanu immediately lofted it to Crouch.
Crouch, despite being sandwiched between Lovren and May, still headed the ball back to Kanu!
Kanu didn't trap the ball, but immediately passed it back!
A one-two in the air!
Having shaken off Lovren, Crouch hooked the ball down with his leg from the side of the penalty arc, directly controlling it!
Crouch quickly turned, with only Pantilimon in front of him!
Even with several Cambridge United players rapidly closing in from behind, Crouch showed no signs of panic!
Facing Pantilimon, Crouch struck the ball with his left foot, curling it towards the top right corner of the goal!
Pantilimon lunged, but didn't touch the ball!
Watching the ball fly towards the goal, a triumphant smile slowly appeared on Crouch's face.
Clang!
The smile on Crouch's face froze. The ball directly hit the junction of the crossbar and the right post, bouncing back!
Sun Jihai arrived quickly and immediately kicked the ball out of bounds!
F***!!! Crouch cursed loudly!
Huang Hao, on the other hand, felt cold sweat trickling down his back. Cambridge United had narrowly escaped!
In the 57th minute, Diarra gained possession in midfield. With his back to the Cambridge United goal, he tried to adjust the ball when he suddenly felt a cold gust of wind behind him!
The clever Diarra immediately kicked the ball away, followed by a sharp pain in his calf, and he fell directly to the ground!
Beep! Craig's whistle blew again!
Huang Hao shot up from the coaching bench!
Tackling from behind! Not good!!!
Indeed, as Craig ran towards May, he had already pulled a red card from his pocket and held it high!
May, knowing he was in the wrong, offered no resistance and walked directly off the field.
Huang Hao couldn't bother to comfort May and immediately called for Kante.
"Warm up for 1 minute! Quick!"
Hearing the instruction, Kante didn't dare to delay. He immediately took off his jacket and began sprinting back and forth on the field!
Huang Hao immediately substituted Vardy for Kante, replacing May's position.
On Cambridge United's forward line, only Lewandowski remained.
Vardy was a little displeased, but being naturally introverted, he still controlled his emotions.
Facing Cambridge United with one less player, Portsmouth's offense intensified! If they couldn't win this, wouldn't they become a laughingstock among their Premier League brethren!
In the 62nd minute, Taggart received the ball outside the penalty area and passed it again to Kranjcar on the left wing! Facing the combined defense of Sun Jihai and Kante, Kranjcar quickly pushed the ball to his right, creating space, and then successfully crossed the ball into the Cambridge United penalty area!
Crouch found the most suitable position between Warren and Lovren and leaped into the air!
From less than 50 centimeters from the goal, Crouch powerfully headed the ball towards Cambridge United's goal!
Got it! The moment he touched the ball, a certain voice echoed in Crouch's mind!
At such close range, no one could stop the goal!
However, Saint Pantilimon was an exception!
Just as Crouch touched the ball, the two-meter tall Pantilimon quickly jumped, vigorously extending his left arm!
On the goal line, Pantilimon used his left hand to bat down Crouch's header!
Sun Jihai immediately cleared the ball with a big kick!!!
Portsmouth fans, who had already stood up to celebrate, instantly let out a huge sigh!
Crouch clutched his head, unable to believe what he was seeing!!!
Is this the level of an EFL Championship goalkeeper???
The tenacious Cambridge United hardly looked like they were playing with one less player! The players used frantic running and pressing to defuse dangerous situations again and again! This directly refreshed the perceptions of the Portsmouth players!
The game continued to tick by, minute by minute, in this stalemate.
Huang Hao's judgment was correct; the Portsmouth players gradually became anxious.
The game had already reached the 75th minute, and Portsmouth, valued at 100 million pounds, still couldn't breach Cambridge United's goal again.
Kranjcar threw the ball directly to Crouch from the sideline. Crouch tried to head it to Taggart nearby, but Mahrez suddenly emerged from midway and stole the ball!
Mahrez, knowing his stamina was low, directly took a flying shot from the edge of the penalty area!
The ball flew rapidly towards Portsmouth's front field!
Gotze, who had replaced Smith, successfully received the pass on the right side of the front field!
Taggart and Botman, who had galloped back to their own half, blocked Gotze's path forward!
Surridge directly passed the ball out with a big kick from the sideline!
The last Portsmouth defender in the penalty area, Distin, looked up as the ball flew over him! Distin could only pray there were no Cambridge United players behind him!
However, when Distin turned his head, his heart instantly sank by half!
Not only were there Cambridge United players behind him, but there were two of them!!!
Are these guys on drugs? How can they have such astonishing stamina?!
Ayu, at the far post, watched the incoming ball while moving towards Portsmouth's goal!
Seeing the ball was a bit high, Ayu immediately jumped, controlling the ball in mid-air!
Facing the rushing James, Ayu immediately curled a shot with his left foot towards the far corner after landing!
James and the ball brushed past each other!
The ball grazed the underside of the crossbar and entered the goal!!!
Fratton Park instantly fell silent!
Immediately after, the Cambridge United substitutes all jumped up as if a pot had boiled over, rushing onto the field to celebrate with the players!
1:2!!!
Cambridge United, playing with one less player, took the lead again using a counter-attack opportunity!
And at this point, the game was already in the 77th minute of the second half! Adams's brows furrowed. He looked at the substitutes' bench and chose Defoe!
Diop saw his number light up on the sideline's display board, shook his head helplessly, quickly ran to the sideline, embraced Defoe, and then sat dejectedly on the bench.
In the 82nd minute, Sun Jihai threw in from the left side of midfield, and the ball was directly headed by Johnson to Kanu!
Kanu immediately chipped the ball to Crouch!
Lovren leaped to head the ball out!
Longstaff gained possession and passed it again to Kranjcar on the left! Kranjcar accelerated! He shook off the exhausted Warren!
Kranjcar, having created enough space, stayed close to the byline and sent the ball into the Barnet penalty area again!
Crouch successfully got to the near post and directly blocked the ball with his leg, sending it just wide of the post.
A huge sigh echoed through Fratton Park.
As Cambridge United players' stamina rapidly declined, the remaining time did not look good.
Huang Hao immediately replaced Smith with Pasquel, switching to a four-man defense.
In the 87th minute, Cambridge United once again won a free-kick between midfield and the big penalty area.
To be safe, Cambridge United's entire defensive line remained in their own half, preventing Portsmouth's last-minute counter-attack.
As a result, only 4 Cambridge United players participated in the attack inside Portsmouth's penalty area!
And all Portsmouth players, except for two forming a wall, retreated to the penalty area!
O'Connor slowly exhaled, took a run-up, and passed! The ball found Tadić at the back post of the penalty area!
Tadić was like a man possessed. Even with two strong defenders, Johnson and Kaboul, in front of him, he still won the header!
Tadić didn't choose to shoot but headed the ball to Ayu outside the box!
Ayu jumped on the edge of the big penalty area and headed the ball towards the goal!!!
This was clearly not Ayu's strong suit!
The ball landed before it even reached the goal area!
The relaxed crowd, however, didn't notice that Tadić had quietly run over! Before James could touch the ball, Tadić followed up with a shot, directly firing towards the goal!!!
The ball, like a cannonball, rushed towards the goal, directly at James's face!
Portsmouth's players felt their hearts turn to ash!!!
The ball, under everyone's gaze, directly hit the crossbar and bounced back!!!
Kaboul, as if electrocuted, quickly kicked the ball towards midfield!
Both Portsmouth fans and Cambridge United loyalists, having experienced great joy and sorrow in this moment, were dumbfounded! They remained in a daze for a long time!
As Cambridge United's last corner kick attack came to nothing, Craig blew the whistle for the end of the 90-minute match!
Cambridge United defeated Portsmouth 2:1, advancing to the fifth round of the FA Cup.