I love penalties - West Brom's shootout hero Foster

West Brom's penalty hero Ben Foster confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in football on Wednesday - goalkeepers love shootouts.

Foster denied Martin Samuelsen and Lee Angol from the spot to help his Premier League team overcome League One opposition 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup fourth-round replay at London Road.

The former Manchester United man, having steered the Baggies to a fifth-round meeting with last season's semi-finalists Reading, acknowledged the lottery from 12 yards out, while a nightmare scenario for outfield players, is the perfect stage for keepers to shine.

"I love shootouts - I think most goalies do. We've got nothing to lose," Foster told the BBC.

"It wasn't easy, it was a very tough game. Fair play to Peterborough, they pushed us all the way.

"We knew they would try to get on top of us and they came at us from the start. It was a decent cup tie. 

"I have to apologise to our fans, I should have saved their goal. It got a deflection and some of the pace was taken out of it, it was scrappy.

"But we reacted well and got the goal back quickly. After that, I thought we were the only team that looked like scoring."

Captain Darren Fletcher was the only West Brom player to miss a penalty and admitted his effort was "terrible", but it was the midfielder's impressive goal that sent the tie to extra-time after Jon Taylor's opener for the third-tier hosts.

The Scotland international said: "It was a terrible penalty from me, [I was] too busy looking at the goalkeeper rather than concentrating on what I was doing and it put us back to level pegging, but Ben has come up with another save and we're through.

"That was a real tough match. Their work-rate, their energy, the way they played, it was a real cup tie tonight. 

"They came right at us and I thought the first 20 minutes they were the better team.

"But once they settled down we had some great chances as well and I think overall we had the better chances in the game.

"It was a great cup tie and someone has to go through and fortunately we've gone through on penalties."