Montella brace helps Fulham through

12 April 2012

Vincenzo Montella inspired a dramatic comeback as Fulham sealed a place in the FA Cup fourth round following their 4-3 victory over Leicester.

The Italian came off the bench at half-time and scored twice as Fulham hit back from 3-1 down, but the crowning glory was reserved for Wayne Routledge, who tricked his way into space and secured the victory deep into injury-time.

Leicester had taken the lead through Matt Fryatt after 13 minutes and then surged ahead again after Brian McBride's equaliser with strikes from Gareth McAuley and James Wesolowski.

It took Leicester just 13 minutes to take advantage. Stephen Hughes launched a long ball over the head of Carlos Bocanegra which Fryatt latched on to before sliding his shot into the corner of the net.

The Foxes were picking holes in the Fulham defence at will and goalkeeper Tony Warner was forced to concede a corner from Patrick McCarthy's rising shot.

The home support were frustrated but Fulham eventually conjured up a breakthrough 10 minutes before the interval. McBride worked half a yard inside the Leicester box to bring down Tomasz Radzinski's cross and hammer home the equaliser.

But the Foxes remained on the front foot and regained the lead in first-half stoppage-time when McAuley wrestled his way past Franck Queudrue at the far post to meet Levi Porter's free-kick.

Within a minute of the restart Leicester took further advantage of Fulham's sluggish defence to extend their lead. Fryatt cut into the box from the left after linking cleverly with Iain Hume and teed up Wesolowski, whose crisp shot flew past Warner.

Just before the hour Montella hauled Fulham level when he climbed to meet Routledge's corner at the far post and head his second goal in seven minutes.

And as the clock ticked through injury-time, Routledge conjured up one last trick. He cut in between two defenders and slid his shot under Henderson to seal a dramatic Fulham comeback.

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