JEDDAH, 19 January 2006 — Saudi Arabia and Sweden battled to a 1-1 draw in their friendly match last night at the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Stadium in Riyadh.

Sweden were first to score benefiting from a coordinated effort that led to a nice shot from outside the penalty box by Matiyas in the 32nd minute.

Sweden were in control for the better part of the match and mounted scoring threats on more than one occasion.

The Kingdom came back with energized performance in the second half.

Muhammad Amin scored the equalizer in the 70th minute from a very nice through pass by Yasir Al-Qahtani. Amin sailed the ball past the left hand of the goalie.

Saudi Arabia’s performance turned 180 degrees and Al-Qahtani could have scored two goals were it not for bad luck.

Reading Upset WBA; Wigan Beat Leeds on Shootout

In London, Congolese Leroy Lita’s hat trick helped second division leaders Reading come back from two goals down to beat Premier League West Bromwich Albion 3-2 after extra-time in their FA Cup third-round replay on Tuesday. Agencies add.

Top-flight Wigan Athletic needed a penalty shootout to eliminate second division Leeds United, who came from behind four times over the two matches and forced a 3-3 draw after extra-time in the replay.

Second division Stoke City also needed penalties to see off minor league Tamworth after their replay finished 1-1 while Premier League Birmingham City ran out 2-0 winners over fourth division Torquay United.

Middlesbrough, savaged 7-0 by Arsenal in the league at the weekend, took out their frustrations on Nuneaton Borough with a 5-2 victory over the minor league club.

Reading, so keen to secure Premier League status they rested several regular starters, trailed 2-0 after a first-half double from West Brom’s Richard Chaplow.

Lita got one back for the home side after the break and added a second with a beautiful strike a quarter of an hour later to send the match into extra-time. The 21-year-old then finished off a good move to claim his third goal.

Reading now play Birmingham, who had Jiri Jarosik and Mikael Forssell to thank for their 2-0 triumph over Torquay.

At Elland Road, Wigan’s Swedish striker Andreas Johansson put the visitors into a deserved lead in the 24th minute.

Leeds equalized four minutes from the break when Lleyton Baines cleared a Rob Hulse header off the line and David Healy was on hand to score.

After a scoreless extra half-hour, Stoke prevailed 5-4 in the shootout and next play Walsall, who beat fellow third division side Barnsley 2-0 in their replay.

A goal after 34 minutes from Middlesbrough defender Chris Riggott and a penalty six minutes later from Yakubu Aiyegbeni put paid to Nuneaton’s hopes.

The Premier League side scored three more through Stuart Parnaby, a second from Yakubu and Mark Viduka to line up a fourth-round trip to second division Coventry City.

Gez Murphy, who scored the equalizer in the first game, struck twice for Nuneaton.

In the night’s other replay, Cheltenham beat Chester 1-0 and will play Premier League Newcastle United for a place in round five.

Nice Knock Bordeaux Out of French League Cup

In Paris, Nice reached the semifinals of the French League Cup thanks to a 2-1 extra-time win over Girondins Bordeaux on Tuesday.

A deflected volley from midfielder Florent Balmont on 110 minutes clinched victory for Nice who are 14th in the Ligue 1 table, 12 places below Bordeaux. Striker David Bellion opened the scoring for the home side with a first-half penalty after Mamadou Bagayoko was brought down by Brazilian defender Henrique. Czech midfielder Vladimir Smicer leveled for Bordeaux on 53 minutes, twisting his way past two defenders before scoring from inside the box.