FA Cup: Stoke v Bolton and a Manchester derby

Stoke 2 West Ham 1 Stoke shrugged off their recent league woes to book their passage to a Wembley semi-final against Bolton Wanderers, but they were forced to fight all the way in a pulsating match against West Ham at the Britannia stadium.

Despite having been thumped 3-0 by the Londoners just eight days ago, the home side was quick out of the traps and Matthew Etherington forced Robert Green into a sharp save within the first two minutes. It wasn't long before Stoke took the lead in typical fashion - an unmarked Robert Huth in the centre of the West Ham box headed home a trademark Howitzer throw from Rory Delap after 12 minutes.

But the Hammers, who had been unbeaten in five games in all tournaments before this tie, weren't going to be bullied out of the game. Just before the half-hour mark, Thomas Hitzlsperger put Frederic Piquionne through on goal and while it appeared that the West Ham player had handled the ball to get it past Stoke's keeper, the referee let the bundled-home goal stand.

Honours remained even until the end of the half, but within two minutes of the restart Stoke had a chance to make it 2-1 after Scott Parker was harshly adjudged to have brought down Etherington. The former Hammer took the penalty himself but Robert Green chose correctly and dived spectacularly to deny him.

The Stoke pressure continued however, and they laid siege to Green's goal through a series of set pieces. Eventually the pressure paid, and a retaken free kick by Danny Higginbotham screamed through the wall, proving too hard for Green to keep out. West Ham threw the kitchen sink at Stoke in the final half hour, but the home side hung on for a hard-earned victory.

Manchester City 1 Reading 0 Manchester City set up a semi-final showdown with bitter urban rivals United after disposing of Championship nearly-rans Reading in Sunday's other quarter-final. With the draw taking place just before the game, the home side had the incentive of knowing that a win would set up a Mancunian clash, United having sent Arsenal crashing out of the Cup on Saturday.

But Reading bravely held on for almost 75 minutes against the might of Silva, Vieira and Tevez before Micah Richards scored the game’s only goal with a header. The final result reflected well on Brian McDermott’s brave side.

With the Premier League now out of City’s grasp, Roberto Mancini will try his best to deny his neighbours any more silverware. He has history on his side: the last time the two Manchester clubs met in an FA Cup semi-final - unbelievably, way back in 1926 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield - City won. ·