MARK Hughes hailed Benni McCarthy after he fired Blackburn Rovers into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a wonder goal at Ewood Park last night.

The South African hit-man climbed off the bench to strike a sensational 87th minute winner as Rovers beat Arsenal 1-0 in their fifth round replay.

Now Hughes is hoping the result will prove an omen because the last time Rovers lifted the Cup in 1928, they beat the Gunners on their way to Wembley.

"It was a magnificent strike by Benni," said the jubilant Rovers boss.

"It was a goal of such quality that the game deserved to finish at that point.

"Over the two ties, I think we deserve to go through.

"In the first game, we possibly rode our luck at the end, but up to that point we had been really strong and resolute.

"Tonight, we asked questions of Arsenal, restricted them once again to very few opportunities, and produced a little bit of magic, so over the course of the two games, we fully deserve it."

McCarthy had started the night on the bench, with Hughes preferring Shabani Nonda and Matt Derbyshire up front instead.

However, he turned to his leading scorer midway through the second half, and McCarthy responded in stunning fashion, slamming home his 16th - and most important - goal of the season in dramatic style.

"Benni is a top class player. I thought there was a little bit of energy lacking in his game in recent weeks and he needed the break, so I just felt that he'd have more of an impact coming off the bench for us.

"But I'm not going to take all the credit. Benni was magnificent when he came on, and he's brilliant in those situations."

An ecstatic McCarthy said: "In football, you never know when you're going to get your chance so you've just got to be ready to take it, and that was one of those moments.

"When you come off the bench you've got fresh legs so you can produce some magic like that, and I'm just thrilled we managed to go through by knocking out probably the best team in the Premier League."

The former Porto star also explained his wild goal celebration, which saw him race half the length of the pitch to embrace Jason Roberts before taking a seat on the substitutes' bench.

"I was going to Jason Roberts because I said to him if one of us goes on and scores then we've got to come back and sit next to the other because we're like Yorke and Cole.

"So when I scored I started running towards the bench and he came running onto the pitch.

"It was just a bit of craziness."

Rovers now face Manchester City in the quarter finals on Sunday week, and Hughes believes his team has a genuine chance of going all the way in his favourite competition.

He added: "We've done reasonably well against City this season and we've got a decent record here against them.

"We're at home, which is an important thing, and we're very excited about the position that we are in.

"We've now got to really capitalise on the situation we've created tonight."

Meanwhile, Rovers are set to announce big price cuts when the unveil season ticket prices for the next campaign.