Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Crystal Palace in FA Cup fifth round - BBC Sport
Crystal Palace's Jeffrey Schlupp says the Eagles are "in a good position to get to Wembley" after he helps them beat Doncaster in the FA Cup.
Last updated on .From the section FA Cup

Crystal Palace midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp says the Eagles are "in a good position to get to Wembley" after his goal helped his team overcome League One side Doncaster Rovers to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Schlupp scored in the eighth minute and Max Meyer headed in a second just before half-time as Palace won 2-0 at Keepmoat Stadium.

The last eight will feature only two of the top six teams in the Premier League - Manchester City and either Chelsea or Manchester United, who play each other in the last fifth-round tie on Monday.

Along with Palace, the other Premier League sides left in the competition are Wolves, Watford and Brighton, with Swansea and Millwall - both in the bottom half of the Championship - also still in the cup.

"It's a great tournament but if we get a lesser team, so to speak, we have a great chance," Schlupp told the BBC.

"It was tough, we'd seen their form and we knew it was going to be tough. But we are pleased to have won, and we scored two good goals.

"We knew if we got past this we'd be in a good position to get to Wembley."

There are 36 league places between Palace and Doncaster and the Eagles took an early lead when Schlupp shot low into the net after a fine individual run.

Meyer then nodded in from Andros Townsend's headed cross to double the visitors' lead in first-half injury time.

Doncaster, who were aiming to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history, had a better second half but Ben Whiteman's shot was saved by Wayne Hennessey, Alfie May headed over from close range and James Coppinger's effort was deflected wide.
• None Relive Crystal Palace's win over Doncaster as it happened
• None Don't miss your last chance to play in 2019 FA People's Cup

Doncaster's run comes to an end

The Eagles have never won the FA Cup, losing twice in finals to Manchester United in 1990 and 2016, but this was also only the second time in 23 years they had reached the last eight.

The quarter-final draw will be made after the Chelsea v Manchester United match and the last-eight ties will be played from 15-18 March, with winning clubs receiving £720,000 in prize money.

Roy Hodgson named a strong Palace side at Keepmoat Stadium and handed a first start to Michy Batshuayi since his loan move from Chelsea at the end of the January transfer window.

Their first goal came after Luka Milivojevic won possession and released Schlupp, who was able to sprint into the box and shoot past Marko Marosi.

Milivojevic was also involved in the build-up to the second as his intelligent ball over the top of the Doncaster defence released Townsend, whose header found Meyer with the German scoring only his second goal for the club.

Doncaster, sixth in League One, had beaten Chorley, Charlton, Preston and Oldham to reach this stage but, despite a bright spell at the start of the second half, could not do enough to progress any further.
• None Crystal Palace have won away at Doncaster for the first time since August 1960, ending a six-game winless run in all competitions (drawn two, lost four).
• None The Eagles have reached the quarter-final stage of the FA Cup for the second time in the last four seasons - as many as in their previous 33 campaigns.
• None Doncaster have not beaten top-flight opposition in the FA Cup since January 1985 (1-0 vs QPR), drawing two and losing six since.
• None Palace have scored in their last nine games in all competitions, their longest run since netting in 10 successive games in March 2016.
• None No Crystal Palace player has provided more goals (seven) or assists (four) than Andros Townsend in all competitions this season.
• None Jeffrey Schlupp has scored five goals in all competitions for Crystal Palace this season, his most in a single campaign since 2011-12 (six for Leicester).

'We saw the difference' - what they said

Doncaster manager Grant McCann said: "We played the game really well, it was a good game but we saw the difference with a Premier League team. I thought between the boxes we were good, but in the final third we didn't get enough shots away.

"We matched them for large periods, but if you give players of that standard those chances it will be hard. The goal before the break took the wind out of our sails a bit.

"We like to get about teams, that's how we approach it, but we were not going to leave anything in the changing room and we gave it a go today."

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson said: "It's good that we are there [in the quarter-finals], I'm very proud of that.

"Today we owe an amazing debt to our fans, I don't quite know how they got there with the problems with the trains, and I thought we were playing at home for large periods of the game.

"It's not easy to quieten a crowd like Doncaster's in a game like this. We owe them a great debt of gratitude and we hope we can reward them by winning our quarter-final and hopefully getting a home tie."
• None Attempt saved. Kieran Sadlier (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
• None Offside, Crystal Palace. Max Meyer tries a through ball, but Jeffrey Schlupp is caught offside.
• None Benjamin Whiteman (Doncaster Rovers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
• None Attempt saved. John Marquis (Doncaster Rovers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Benjamin Whiteman.
• None Herbie Kane (Doncaster Rovers) wins a free kick on the right wing. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page