Albion head coach Roberto Di Matteo revealed his relief at Joe Mattock’s last-gasp equaliser which kept the Baggies in with a chance of reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals. The Baggies made the worst possible start to the fifth-round tie conceding after only 9 seconds – one of the quickest goals in FA Cup history!
After the nightmare start Albion rallied with Robert Koren equalising before smashing a volley against a post. After Shane Long and Youssouf Mulumbu had both seen red, Simon Church looked to have won the tie for the Royals before Mattock’s late, late goal.
With the Baggies currently involved in a glut of fixtures a replay was the last thing the Baggies boss wanted. However the Italian took a jovial philosophy of another fixture being added to Albion’s calendar admitting he was happy to just still be involved in the cup.
"It was part of our plan to have a replay and another game!" Di Matteo joked.
"It's another game - as if we haven't had enough of those!
"Joking aside, we're happy to still be in the cup.
"We were 2-1 down towards the end of the game and we're very pleased we still have a chance.
"Before the cup started, I said we'd love to have a run in the competition.
"We're still in it and we're going to try our best to get through."
Not for the first time this season the Baggies were forced to come from behind with Di Matteo again praising his side’s never say die attitude.
"We got ourselves back into the game after a bad start and looked quite in control," the former MK Dons chief added.
"We created a number of good chances and, after we equalised, we looked quite strong.
"It could have been good for us when they had a man sent off - but then we had a player sent off as well.
"That just evened things up again.
"But I'm very pleased with my players' effort and attitude."