Sub Stuani swoops late to

CRISTHIAN STUANI came off the bench to deny League One Oxford a place in the draw for the quarter-finals as Middlesbrough survived a major scare to triumph at the Riverside Stadium.

Aitor Karanka’s men looked to be heading for the Kassam Stadium for a replay after squandering a 2-0 lead inside a single madcap second-half minute, but Uruguay international Stuani came to their rescue with an 86th-minute winner to secure a place in the last eight for the first time since 2009.

Grant Leadbitter’s penalty and January signing Rudy Gestede’s first goal for the club had given Boro a commanding half-time lead, but Chris Maguire’s superb freekick and Antonio Martinez’s equaliser just seconds later left the result in the melting pot.

Oxford might have taken an early lead when keeper Simon Eastwood saw his scuffed clearance fall to a yellow, rather than a red, shirt and when Ryan Ledson helped the ball forward, Martinez turned central defender Bernardo Espinosa all too easily, but could not beat Brad Guzan with his shot.

Shaken from their slumbers, Boro responded in determined fashion with Viktor Fischer and Adama Traore prospering out wide and Leadbitter and Stewart Downing linking midfield with attack.

Gestede probably should have opened the scoring with a free header from Leadbitter’s sixth-minute