Football: Kanu's day of redemption

Arsenal 1 Derby County 0 Kanu 89 Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 38,046

FOR THE briefest moment here yesterday, there was an ominous feeling of deja vu. The final minute, and a Ray Parlour corner causes havoc in the visitors' ranks. The ball strikes Tony Adams, ricochets to Martin Keown who shoots, only to hit his own player, the lurking substitute Nwankwo Kanu, on the chest before, almost in slow motion, the Nigerian turns and executes the winner.

Derby appeal in vain for an infringement - offside, Jim Smith confirms, though conceding that their claims are unsubstantiated - and the Derby manager looks disgusted. You look for someone to dispense some kind of justice. Only this time, unlike the events at the same stadium, in the same FA Cup competition and involving the same scorer of three weeks ago, there is no way back for the Rams.

Dean Sturridge, who had already been one of nine men to suffer the wrath of referee Steve Dunn on an afternoon of scything challenges and recrimination, continues to debate the issue with a linesman and is dismissed. You can only feel for the Bald Eagle and his men from Pride Park.

Yesterday it was home, it must be said, to a pride of lions, who had prowled their penalty area with such ferocity that they had provoked Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka to distraction. The reaction of the Derby players as their rivals celebrated was understandable. It was disappointment overflowing as they capitulated to the Cup holders and 13 times FA Cup finalists Arsenal, who move into the semi-finals having already eliminated Derby from the Worthington Cup this season. "What were you appealing for?" someone asked Smith. "Frustration," he said sadly. "Just frustration."

The FA Cup has never been fertile territory for Smith, who this year entered his 31st year of management and who would have relished the opportunity of leading a team into Europe. He was deprived of a Cup final place in a semi-final here seven years ago, when his Portsmouth team were denied by an equaliser in added time for the eventual winners Liverpool.

On the same turf yesterday, his masterly tactics of blunting the cutting edge of Anelka and Bergkamp by deploying man-markers Lee Carsley and Spencer Prior, that pair supplemented by the presence of captain Igor Stimac, appeared to have persuaded the FA Cup gods to move events in his favour. Derby not only came close to extending the tie to a replay but, for all the Gunners' possession and the regularity with which they peppered the vicinity of Russell Hoult's goal, might have succeeded at the first attempt had Paulo Wanchope's finishing matched his preparatory work.

Arsenal, without the French duo of the injured Emanuel Petit and suspended Patrick Vieira, are like a bouillabaisse without garlic, lacking that certain oomph, and though Parlour and Marc Overmars, before he was replaced in the second half by Kaba Diawara, stretched Derby, there was little to trouble Hoult until, late on, a clever lay-back by Bergkamp was the invitation for Anelka to strike a post.

The duelling between Carsley and Bergkamp, which was a bruising feature of the game, only served to add spite to the spice. Referee Dunn rightly failed to respond when the Dutchman was the subject of a fair but uncompromising challenge from his shadow early on, but that incident was the prelude to a litany of illegal tackles, resulting in cautions for Derby's Darryl Powell, Stefano Eranio and Jacob Laursen, together with Arsenal's Nigel Winterburn and Anelka before the interval. After the break, the misdemeanours continued to mount as Mr Dunn added the names of Arsenal's Parlour and Vivas and Derby's Stefan Schnoor and Sturridge, who finished with a red card.

In the first 20 minutes, the closest Anelka, the Premiership player of the month for February, got to adding to his tally of 15 goals was a weak header from Fredrik Ljungberg's cross. Ljungberg, the pounds 2.5m Swede who has been afflicted by illness and injury since his move in September, and the Under-21 international Stephen Hughes, who has been something of an under-achiever so far, deputised for Vieira and Petit, but they rarely displayed the power and panache of the French duo. Hughes had an excuse. He was substituted at half-time with a broken arm, which will keep him out for three weeks.

Indeed, it was the visitors who forced the first save, a splendid move involving a cross from Eranio, turned back in by Sturridge, which gave Wanchope the opportunity to turn and shoot. Fortunately for Arsenal, it was under-hit and too close to the alert David Seaman. Overmars' thrusts from deep maintained the pressure, but for all his scintillating runs there was no end product. Arsenal's other option was to Hoult from distance, but the Gunners could not make the breakthrough.

Just before the break it was the home fans who suffered raised heartbeats as a back pass to Seaman by the normally dependable Keown looped over the goalkeeper's head. As the ball bounced slowly towards an empty net, the England defender nipped round to redeem his error.

The Argentinian Nelson Vivas replaced Hughes and Ljungberg soon joined him on the bench, with Kanu, whose actions caused Arsenal's fifth round game with Sheffield United to be replayed, entering the fray. The Nigerian's first act was to give Bergkamp a ball which he clipped forward into the path of Anelka. Again, Hoult was untroubled by the header. Once Diawara was introduced, manager Arsene Wenger had what resembled a four- man attack. The second half was played almost entirely in Derby's half and only sporadically did Derby demonstrate they were capable of embarrassing their hosts, notably when Wanchope turned Tony Adams and struck an effort which had Seaman struggling, but eluded the far post.

Arsenal, who rarely lack anything in the way of perseverance, continued to twist the ligature around the Derby throat and with the seconds ticking away, Derby were for once found wanting as Kanu turned from villain into hero.