McCarthy - I feared penalties

enni McCarthy has admitted he was not looking forward to the prospect of a penalty shoot-out in Blackburn's FA Cup tie with Sunderland. Wednesday's replay at Ewood Park looked set to go to penalties with the score locked at 1-1 with just minutes to go.Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon had kept Rovers at bay with several stunning saves but McCarthy grabbed a winner in the 118th minute as he headed home Carlos Villanueva's cross.The South African, who missed a spot-kick last week in the draw against Bolton, was delighted to find the target and set up a home tie with Coventry. McCarthy said: "I was cr***ing myself at the thought of penalties after missing one against Bolton."When the goalkeeper is having a night like that, you feel he will claw away some of your spot-kicks."He was absolutely fantastic. If it wasn't for him, Sunderland would have lost in the 90 minutes."My nerves were beginning to play up but then we got the winner. It was a good free-kick by Carlos and a fantastic looping header by me."Blackburn have been much harder to break down since Sam Allardyce was appointed as manager and McCarthy also feels their attacking play is starting to come together.He said: "We have great depth in our squad. That was clear against Sunderland as the manager made a lot of changes but we still got the victory."We defended very well and made few mistakes. That was the key for us and we do create a lot of chances."

Source: SKY_Sports