Reading 1 Burnley 0

The FA Cup fourth round game between Reading and Burnley at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday Jan 23 2010.

They left it late again, but Reading belied their lowly position in the Championship to knock Premier League opponents out of the cup.

Shane Long struck in the final minute at Liverpool in the previous round to earn extra-time before scoring the winning goal, and this time it was Gylfi Sigurdsson, with the only goal of the game.

The Icelandic midfielder scored in the 88h minute of a game that only really came to life in the final quarter of an hour. Running on to Andy Griffin's forward pass, Sigurdsson beat Burnley's Kevin McDonald to the ball before slipping a low shot into the far corner of Brian Jensen's goal.

It was a just reward for Sigurdsson, who had been one of the few players prepared to have a go at goal in a game that was desperately poor for the opening 75 minutes, in a half-empty Madejski Stadium.

Unsurpsrisingly, the first-half was flat. Reading tried hard but rarely looked like scoring. The best chances fell to Grzegorz Rasiak, who headed over the bar, shot wide and then, with a crossed ball begging to be attacked at the far post, tumbled clumsily after the lightest of touches from defender Tyrone Mears. Referee Andy D'Urso waved away Reading's half-hearted penalty appeal.

Sigurdsson, one of four Icelandic players on the pitch (with a fifth on the subs' bench), forced a good save from Jensen with one long shot and then put another over the bar. It was that sort of game.

The second half brought more ambition from the visitors. Chris Eagles instigated their best move of the game when he played a series of short passes before crossing from the right for Joey Gudjohnsen to clip a first-time shot that Adam Federici tipped away for a corner. It was the Reading goalkeeper's first save of note, with almost an hour played.

Reading had a stronger penalty claim denied in the 70th minute when Jobi McAnuff went down under the challenge of Chris McCann in the area, but D'urso was unmoved. Moments later, Reading should have scored but Sigurdsson headed wide of the far post from close range with the goal in front of him.

Finally the game burst into life, with chances at both ends. But the Australian excelled with two fine saves in the space of a minute. First he dived full length to keep out a low drive from McDonald, then within a minute clawed away a header from David Edgar at point-blank range from a corner.

Jensen then made a similarly spectacular save to keep out a header from Matt Mills, and also held a glancing header from substitute Long. And with time running out, Sigurdsson struck to send the home fans into raptures, claiming in song that they are on their way to Wembley.