Arsenal were booed off the pitch after a second humiliation in two months against lower league opponents when visitors Blackburn Rovers beat them 1-0 in the FA Cup fifth round with a late Colin Kazim-Richards goal yesterday.

Manager Arsene Wenger’s gamble of leaving out a batch of first-team regulars against the Championship (second tier) side backfired as Arsenal fan Kazim-Richards struck a 72nd minute winner to send Rovers into the quarter-finals.

Arsenal’s Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky had come closest to breaking the deadlock with a thumping shot against the bar and Rovers had to survive furious pressure as the hosts belatedly showed some urgency, but it was too little too late.

“It’s painful and disappointing to lose,” Wenger, whose side fell to fourth-tier Bradford on penalties in the League Cup quarter-finals, told reporters after another low point in what has become one of his most difficult seasons at the club.

“We lacked ruthlessness and calm in front of goal and didn’t make enough of our corners and in the end we were vulnerable to one mistake. We weren’t good enough to win the game today.”

Another poor result against the formidable Bayern Munich at home in the Champions League last 16, first leg on Tuesday would virtually guarantee an eighth successive trophy-less campaign.

In a season of FA Cup shocks, Championship sides Millwall and Barnsley must fancy their chances of reaching the Wembley final after progressing to the last eight.

Millwall ended Luton’s hopes of becoming the first minor league club to reach the quarter-finals for 99 years with a 3-0 victory while Barnsley were 3-1 winners at MK Dons.

In the evening kick-off, a stoppage-time goal from substitute Matt Smith earned Oldham a 2-2 draw against Everton and a replay at Goodison Park.

Jordan Obita gave the Latics the lead at Boundary Park, smashing home with his left foot.

Victor Anichebe then levelled with a crisp strike into the bottom left corner, and Phil Jagielka’s header three minutes after the interval looked to have done enough to give Everton the win.

However, Smith came out on top in a penalty-area scramble to head in an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Wenger made seven changes to the Arsenal side that won at Sunderland in the Premier League last week, leaving the likes of Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla on the bench.

Ironically, it was just after that trio had been introduced to try and inject some firepower to a powder-puff display with 20 minutes left that Rovers scored from a rare foray forward.

A long punt found Martin Olsson in space and when his fierce shot was only parried by Wojciech Szczesny, London-born Kazim-Richards, on loan from Turkish club Galatasaray, scuffed the ball into the ground and watched it bounce in off the post.

“It was not the sweetest of strikes,” said Rovers manager Michael Appleton, with his third club in this season’s FA Cup having started at Portsmouth before a brief stint at Blackpool.

“In fairness he tried to keep the ball down because it could have ended up in Row Z, and he got the luck he deserved.”

Wenger’s ‘disrespect’

With disgruntled Arsenal fans already heading for the exits, one shouting “You disrespect the Cup Wenger”, the Gunners bombarded Rovers’ goal but the visitors stood firm.

Wenger said his team selection was no excuse for the club’s first loss to lower league opponents in the FA Cup since he took over in 1996.

“We had 11 internationals on the pitch at the start and when we made the changes it was 0-0,” said the Frenchman.

“We had a lot of the ball and they defended well. But we made a massive mistake on the goal.”

Despite 26 goal attempts, Arsenal can hardly count themselves unlucky as, apart from the final 15 minutes, their was a lack of urgency about their display.

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