TIREDNESS or not, some high-profile teams from the Premiership and Championship were found guilty of gifting, and not receiving in the FA Cup third round over the weekend. Five top-flight sides are out, and for the North East, the weekend was the stuff of all nightmares!
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| MOBBED: Michael Bostwick is surrounded after scoring the second |
Top of the upsets came at Broadhill Way on Saturday night, which proves why the FA Cup is still loved by millions of fans worldwide. Stevenage Borough overcame Newcastle United 3-1, to complete the job that they were very unlucky not to finish in the bitter 1998 round four encounters. Once Stacey Long’s strike took a wicked deflection off Mike Williamson, which deceived Magpies goalkeeper Tim Krul, Stevenage looked on their way to a famous result. Michael Bostwick doubled the lead moments later, and despite Joey Barton’s late consolation, the League Two side wrapped it up, courtesy of Peter Winn. For Alan Pardew, the honeymoon period at Newcastle is definitely over after this result. Stevenage will play Reading in round four, after the Championship side beat West Brom 1-0 at the Madjevski Stadium. Shane Long notched the winning goal, as West Brom slipped to their sixth successive defeat.
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| TARGET: Lee Hughes finds the net as Notts County shock Sunderland |
Newcastle’s rival North East rivals Sunderland also slipped to an embarrassing loss, beaten 2-1 at home by Paul Ince’s Notts County side. Simon Mignolet, the Black Cats goalkeeper failed to deal with Craig Westcarr’s cross, allowing the visitors to take the lead. Lee Hughes struck from an almost impossible angle to make the shock more probable. Despite Darren Bent’s late penalty, County fully deserved their success. To complete the North East misery, struggling Middlesbrough were toppled at the Pirelli Stadium by Burton Albion. Gary O’Neil’s free-kick had Boro infront, and despite dominating the game, two late strikes from Shaun Harrad saw Burton through into the fourth round for the first time in their history. The other Premiership side to tumble out of the competition to a lower league side was Blackpool. Ian Holloway made eight changes to his line-up from his midweek Premiership match with Birmingham, with survival clearly on his mind. Consequently, the 2-0 defeat at Southampton was not as much of a surprise as the other giant killings. Having dismissed Pardew earlier in the season, Saints are now second in League One, and now can look forward to a round four encounter with Manchester United.
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| OFF: Howard Webb gives Gerrard his marching orders at Old Trafford |
Kenny Dalglish returned to the Liverpool dugout, twenty years on from his last stint at Anfield, but it turned into an unhappy start on Sunday; Liverpool losing 1-0 at Manchester United in the tie of the round. In a poor match, the game was settled in the first minute, when Howard Webb gave the home side a controversial penalty. Dimitar Berbatov went down, under minimal contact from Daniel Agger; a dive that would have made Gillian McKeith proud! Ryan Giggs dispatched the penalty confidently and Liverpool’s day got worse, as captain Steven Gerrard was sent off by Webb on the half hour, for a wreckless lunge on Michael Carrick. Liverpool improved on recent performances, but never looked like scoring and if Man United wanted to, they could have scored a second. Manchester rivals, City will need to replay with Leicester City, after being held to a 2-2 draw with Leicester City. Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side showed a great deal of passion and commitment, which is something that Manchester City’s superstars didn’t seem to have. A rare error from Joe Hart, allowed Andy King to snatch a deserved equaliser. Meanwhile, Arsenal had Cesc Fabregas to thank for a last-gasp penalty, to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United. After a series of poor results, pressure relieved on Carlo Ancelotti, as cup holders Chelsea battered manageress Ipswich Town 7-0 at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard hit a hat-trick and there was a brace for Daniel Sturridge.
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| SHOCK: Chris Wood puts Brighton ahead |
In the final tie of the weekend, non-league Crawley Town produced a shock 2-1 win at home to Championship side Derby County. Sergio Torres side footed a stoppage time winner in injury time to secure a round four trip to Torquay United. Many other Championship teams were eliminated by lower league clubs over the course of the weekend and they included last season’s beaten finalists Portsmouth. Once Dave Kitson was dismissed on 14 minutes for using an elbow, Portsmouth’s cause looked all but a lost cause, eventually losing 3-1 at League One leaders, Brighton & Hove Albion. Challenging for promotion, Norwich City also got dumped out, slipping up 1-0 at home to Leyton Orient. Jimmy Smith, who failed to score on a loan spell at Norwich previously in his career, headed in the sole goal for the League One strugglers. Having been part of the Portsmouth side that made it to Wembley last May, David James won’t be looking back on this season’s competition too fondly, as his Bristol City side got hammered 3-0 at home by Sheffield Wednesday.
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| CROCKED: Jamie Mackie is in agony after his leg fracture at Blackburn |
Championship leaders QPR’s 1-0 loss at Blackburn Rovers was marred by a serious double leg fracture for Rangers striker Jamie Mackie, with his boss Neil Warnock, launching a tirade at El-Hadji Diouf afterwards. The controversial Senegalese allegedly abused Mackie whilst the crocked hitman was lying in agony on the Ewood Park turf. Finally, York City and Dover Athletic’s epic journeys came to brave ends at the weekend. Both non-league sides went down 2-0 at Bolton Wanderers and Huddersfield Town respectively.
Another weekend of gripping giant-killing and daring drama in the world’s greatest cup competition is over and done with and I will expect more for the rest of the tournament this season. Well done to Stevenage Borough, Crawley Town, Notts County, Burton Albion, Reading and Southampton for their unlikely acts of upsets, as last weekend’s action just reminded us all of how never to underestimate the power of the FA Cup.
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