SERVICES

Tuesday February 20, 2008

The Magic Of The Cup Continues Unabated

Liverpool Shocked By Barnsley; United Spanks The Gunners

Bristol Rovers 1 Southampton 0

Rovers caused the first upset of Saturday after they claimed a 1-0 win over Southampton at the Memorial Stadium in the day's early kick-off. Paul Trollope's Coca-Cola League One team were the better side throughout and Rickie Lambert eventually scored the decisive goal in the 84th minute. The Rovers striker drilled a low free-kick from 22 yards which took a deflection off Saints midfielder Jermaine Wright and sailed past goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.

Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2

In the shock of the fifth round, Barnsley captain Brian Howard scored a late winner to give his side a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield. Dirk Kuyt had put Liverpool ahead after he thumped home Ryan Babel's cross in the 32nd minute before Steve Foster equalized with a header for the Championship side in the 57th minute. The home side dominated the remainder of the game and Tykes goalkeeper Luke Steele, who was signed on emergency loan from West Brom earlier in the week, produced a string of second-half saves. The match seemed to be heading for a replay before Howard struck the winner from 25 yards in the third minute of added time out to put his side into the quarter-final draw.

Coventry City 0 West Bromwich Albion 5

Roman Bednar scored twice to help book the Baggies place in the quarter-finals they thrashed 10-man Coventry 5-0 win at the Ricoh Arena. Chris Brunt had given West Brom a 12th-minute lead and the home side lost Michael Doyle after he was sent off for a foul on Zoltan Gera. Bednar scored in the 59th minute after a mistake by Coventry goalkeeper Andy Marshall before he converted a penalty 10 minutes later. Sub Ishmael Miller added another in the 76th minute and Gera added a fifth two minutes later.

Cardiff City 2 Wolves 0

Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham scored his team's first goal with just 90 seconds elapsed when he got on the end of a pass from Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, who got their second, in the eleventh minutes, with a great shot into the top-left corner of the net to help give his side a 2-0 win over Wolves at Ninian Park. The result means that Cardiff have made it to the quarterfinals for the first time since they won the whole thing in 1927.

Chelsea 3 Huddersfield Town 0

Frank Lampard opened the scoring with his 100th goal for Chelsea in the 18th minute after he latched on to a Scott Sinclair cross before he placed the ball into the bottom-left corner of the net. Huddersfield, though, equalized on the stroke of half-time through midfielder Michael Collins. Lampard restored the Blue's advantage in the 60th minute with a close-range finish. Salomon Kalou was sent clear by Lampard 10 minutes later and added a third after he rounded Glennon to calmly slot the ball home.

Manchester United 4 Arsenal 0

It was all one-way traffic at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney put the Red Devils ahead in the 16th minute and Fletcher also headed home four minutes later to make it 2-0. Luis Nani (38) latched on to Michael Carrick's pass and drilled the ball past Jens Lehmann to make it 3-0 before the break. Arsene Wenger's side were reduced to 10 men four minutes after the interval when Emmanuel Eboue was shown a straight red card for a foul on Patrice Evra. Fletcher then rounded off the scoring in the 74th minute with a close-range header after good work by Nani down the left flank.

Sheffield United 0 Middlesbrough 0

In Sunday's early game, United narrowly missed out on a third Premier League scalp in this season's FA Cup and had to settle for a goalless draw against 'Boro. Former Everton striker James Beattie struck the upright for the Blades just before the break - and they also had two good penalty appeals for handball waved away - which was was the closest either side came to victory, setting up the only Fifth Round replay at the Riverside on Wednesday February 27th. The winner of the replay will go on to face Cardiff in the Sixth Round.

Preston North End 0 Portsmouth 1

Portsmouth booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals after Preston midfielder Darren Carter scored a 93rd-minute own-goal to decide this fifth-round tie at Deepdale. North End were awarded a 60th-minute spot-kick but man-of-the-match David James got down to his right to deny Preston midfielder Simon Whaley. A replay looked certain as the game drifted into the final minute of added time but Niko Kranjcar's corner was missed by Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan and in the panic Carter could only smash the ball into his own net from underneath the crossbar, sending Portsmouth into the quarter-finals.