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London: Manchester United required a second-half rally to edge past third-tier side Southampton 2-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday, and Salomon Kalou's late equalizer rescued defending champion Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Everton.
United was 1-0 down at halftime at St. Mary's Stadium, but the 11-time winners and Premier League leaders avoided an upset thanks to goals by strikers Michael Owen and Javier Hernandez in the space of 10 minutes after the break.
Everton dominated for long spells against Chelsea and took the lead when striker Louis Saha headed home a corner by Leighton Baines in the 62nd.
Chelsea equalized through substitute Kalou, who finished off a flowing counterattack in the 75th with a shot that squirmed into the far corner to earn his team a replay.
Fifth-tier side Crawley Town missed two penalties but still became the first non-league club to qualify for the competition's fifth round since 1994 thanks to a 1-0 victory at 10-man Torquay, while there were wins for Premier League teams Aston Villa and Birmingham.
United fielded a second-string side against Southampton and was blown away in the first half on the south coast.
The Saints should have been ahead well before Richard Chaplow pounced on United center back Jonny Evans' mistake in the 45th to surge into the area and smash a right-foot shot high into the net at the near post, past debutant goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
United manager Alex Ferguson responded by throwing on wingers Ryan Giggs and Nani for the second half, and the changes had the desired effect.
"They played well and it's always tough in these matches in the FA Cup in the first half," said Owen. "But inevitably they tire and it's often the way that the better teams come good in the final 30 minutes."
Owen, who hit the post in the first half with a misplaced cross, reacted quickest to Gabriel Obertan's deflected cross to head home from eight yards in the 65th minute.
Hernandez completed the turnaround by running onto Ryan Giggs' sublime through-ball and poking his finish in off the post.
United was 2-0 down in its Premier League match at Blackpool on Tuesday before bouncing back to win 3-2 and maintain the team's unbeaten record in the campaign.
Chelsea was arguably even more fortunate than United, with Everton on top for the majority of the match at Goodison Park.
"To come back into the game, we had good attitude and good spirit," Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said. "It was not easy — Everton put pressure on us all the time."
Chelsea came close to snatching a win when Brazil midfielder Ramires hit the post in the 86th, while substitute Everton striker Jermaine Beckford forced an acrobatic save out of Petr Cech in the final minute.
Jack Rodwell, Marouane Fellaini and Seamus Coleman had all earlier gone close for Everton, which lost 2-1 to Chelsea in the 2009 final at Wembley.
"I don't think you can come away (from the match) and say Chelsea were really threatening," Everton manager David Moyes said. "I thought we looked the side who were more likely to score than Chelsea."
Chelsea has won three of the last four FA Cups, including the last two. The team is looking to become the first to win the cup for three seasons straight since 1886.
In the two other all-Premier League matches on Saturday, Aston Villa defeated Blackburn 3-1 at Villa Park and Bolton was held 0-0 at home by Wigan.
Ciaran Clark, veteran former France winger Robert Pires and Nathan Delfouneso scored Villa's goals, all of them coming in the first half. Nikola Kalinic had equalized for Blackburn in the 18th, while Villa had to survive the last 28 minutes with 10 men following the sending-off of Nathan Baker for a dangerous tackle on David Hoilett.
Birmingham, which reached the League Cup final in midweek, rallied to beat Midlands rival Coventry 3-2 thanks to second-half goals by fringe players Stuart Parnaby and Kevin Phillips.
Coventry, which plays in the second-tier League Championship, went 2-0 up by the 26th minute but on-loan midfielder David Bentley scored in the 35th to begin Birmingham's fightback.
Matt Tubbs scored the winner for the Crawley, which is top of the Blue Square Premier League — England's fifth highest league.
In the day's other surprises, League Championship sides Swansea and Watford lost home matches to Leyton Orient and Brighton, who both play in English football's third division.
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