Barnsley to face Cardiff in semis

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - Barnsley's reward for knocking holders Chelsea and Liverpool out of the FA Cup is a semi-final against fellow Championship (second division) side Cardiff City.

Monday's draw also pitted Portsmouth, the only Premier League side left in the competition, against Championship high-flyers West Bromwich Albion.

It is the first time since 1908 that only one team from the top flight reached the semi-finals, which will both be played at Wembley Stadium over the weekend of April 5-6.

Barnsley beat Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday, hours after Portsmouth had stunned Manchester United by the same score at Old Trafford, their first victory there for 51 years.

Cardiff, the only Welsh club to win the Cup in 1927, continued a weekend of upsets by eliminating Premier League Middlesbrough on Sunday.

After more than a decade of domination of the FA Cup by the so-called "big four" in England, this year's competition has been gloriously unpredictable.

Should Portsmouth lose their first FA Cup semi-final since 1992 it would guarantee the first final between clubs outside the top flight since English league football began in 1888-89.

The last time a final did not involve either Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea was in 1991 when Tottenham Hotspur beat Nottingham Forest.