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Your support makes all the difference.They dreaded Roch-dale away but drew Chelsea at home. Just when it seemed Shrewsbury Town's FA Cup odyssey could not become any more intriguing, an old-fashioned Monday lunchtime draw handed the Third Division club another potential classic as their reward for knocking out Everton and helping to bring the great old competition thrillingly back into repute.
Kevin Ratcliffe, manager of English football's 86th-placed team, admitted after being paired with the side lying third in the Premiership that he feared Shrewsbury's luck had run out. "Rochdale got pulled out a few before us at home and I thought we were going there to play, which we really didn't need," he said.
"Then our name came out first and we got one of the big boys. I thought if we got another Premiership side we'd rather be away but we'll get a full house for this one. We've gone further than we expected so anything now is a massive bonus."
Capacity at Gay Meadow may be only 7,800, but television fees will soften the blow of missing out on Old Trafford or Anfield. Nigel Jemson, Saturday's two-goal hero, promised Chelsea "a good game". He added: "Who knows what can happen? Watch this space."
Apart from Farnborough, Crystal Palace were the other main benificaries of the draw, a home tie against Liverpool making the First Division club's followers nostalgic for 1990. Threatened by relegation, ravaged by injuries and twice a goal down to a side that had humiliated them 9-0 in the League, Palace beat Liverpool, the Cup holders, 4-3 in an epic semi-final.
No matter that Liverpool routed Palace 5-0 in another semi-final two years ago. That was "only" the Worthington Cup, and, as last weekend proved, the FA version remains unrivalled in public affections. Gérard Houllier's men go to Sheffield United in the last four of the former competition tomorrow, the first of two tussles with supposedly inferior opponents as they strive to salvage their season.
As well as being one of three definite all-Premiership games, which guarantees that more than half the top-flight teams are eliminated by the fifth round, Manchester United's meeting with West Ham is also a re-match. Two years ago, at the same stage, Paolo Di Canio scored the only goal as Fabien Barthez tried to psyche him out by indicating that the West Ham player had been ruled offside.
Wolves' 79-year-old owner-chairman, Sir Jack Hayward, wants to win the Cup "before I'm too old to lift the damn thing". On paper, a home draw against Leicester offers an inviting route to the last 16, although the psychology of a tie against opposition from the same division could make it an altogether tighter contest than the pulsating victory over Newcastle.
The draw was considerably less kind to Dagenham & Redbridge than to Farnborough, their incentive for replay success against Plymouth being a trip to Brighton or Norwich. Sheffield Wednesday will host a derby with Leeds United if they win at Gillingham, while Crewe will travel to nearby Stoke City provided they beat Bournemouth.
FOURTH-ROUND DRAW
Norwich City or Brighton v Plymouth or Dagenham & Redbridge
Southampton v Cambridge Utd or Millwall
Walsall or Reading v Wimbledon
Blackburn Rovers v Bolton or Sunderland
Rochdale v Cardiff City or Coventry City
Fulham v Charlton Athletic
Sheffield Utd v Ipswich Town
Shrewsbury Town v Chelsea
Stoke City v Bournemouth or Crewe
Brentford v Grimsby Town or Burnley
Farnborough Town v Arsenal
Manchester Utd v West Ham Utd
Gillingham or Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds Utd
Wolves v Leicester City
Watford v West Bromwich Albion
Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Ties to be played 25 or 26 January
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