Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0: Arsenal were denied what looked a cast-iron penalty 13 minutes from the end of today's FA Cup fifth round clash as Blackburn erected an iron-curtain defence to earn a replay.
It was hard to understand why referee Martin Atkinson did not point to the spot at the Emirates Stadium when Stephen Warnock seemed to clearly trip Jeremie Aliadiere.
Arsenal dominated the game but, after an early miss by the ineffective Thierry Henry, they rarely generated even a half-chance against the visitors, who were grateful for Brad Friedel's incredible late double-save from Henry and Justin Hoyte.
Having been thumped 6-2 on the Gunners' home turf earlier this season, Mark Hughes sent his troops out with an ultra-defensive mindset.
In what wasn't the best of games, the visitors got lucky on 76 minutes when Warnock chopped down Aliadiere in the box but saw both referee Atkinson and the linesman ignore the hosts' appeals.
Arsenal built up a head of steam in the closing stages and after Friedel denied Tomas Rosicky with a fine close-range save, he kept out Henry's effort with a stunning finger-tip stop before turning Hoyte's follow-up over the crossbar with his legs.
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