FA Cup 4th round review - Crawley continue their stunning run

Non-league Crawley Town took the main plaudits after another pulsating weekend of FA Cup action and now, have a dream tie at Old Trafford as a major reward.

HISTORY: Crawley are the first since 1994 to reach the last 16

The Blue Square Premier side, conquerors of Swindon Town and Derby County in earlier rounds, took their third league scalp of the competition in the form of Torquay United.  The League Two side were beaten 1-0 at Plainmoor, with the only goal coming from Matt Tubbs, his 25^th goal of a prolific season.  Some of Crawley’s playacting wasn’t welcomed by the opposition, with two red cards and the non-league side also seeing two penalties being saved by the experienced Scott Bevan.  Nevertheless, they deserve their day out at Manchester United in round five, becoming the first non-league side since Kidderminster Harriers in 1994 to reach the last 16.

Manchester United got to round five after another efficient if unconvincing performance, this time at Southampton.  Sir Alex Ferguson had to bring Nani and Ryan Giggs on to turnaround a match that they looked destined to lose, once Richard Chaplow had fired the Saints into a lead on the stroke of half-time.  Once they had width available, the Premiership leaders were on top for large parts of the second half, with Michael Owen equalising and poacher Javier Hernandez snatching another goal from Giggs cute pass, sealing a 2-1 victory.  If the Mexican continues his rich vein of form, Wayne Rooney will be getting concerned about his place as a permanent fixture in the Manchester United starting 11. 

Crawley weren’t the only side to do some giantklling at the weekend, as both Leyton Orient and Brighton dumped out Championship opposition away from home.  Orient put in an incredible performance at Championship promotion contenders Swansea City, and ended up on the right side of a 2-1 scoreline.  They needed some luck, courtesy of an 88^th minute own goal from the Swans skipper Alan Tate.  You had to feel for Tate; it was the perfect own goal, which he probably couldn’t execute any better if he had done it another 90 times!  Brighton, League One leaders went to high-flying Watford and won 1-0.  Like Orient, they needed some fortune.  Ashley Barnes’s 14^th minute winner was a tame effort, which Watford goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin let through his fingers like a bar of soap!  Even Peter Enckleman could have saved Barnes’s shot, it was that bad!

Leyton Orient will now encounter a London derby against Arsenal in the next round.  Once again, the Gunners needed a late Cesc Fabregas penalty to keep them alive.  This time, it was enough to see off a brave Huddersfield Town challenge, 2-1 at the Emirates.  Nicolas Bendtner broke the deadlock, but once Sebastian Squillaci was sent off, Arsenal looked on the backfoot throughout.  Alan Lee equalised for Huddersfield, but Fabregas broke their hearts and keeps Arsene Wenger’s side fighting in all four competitions.  

THRASHING: Fulham crushed Spurs, with Danny Murphy on target twice

At least they didn’t crumble like North London rivals Tottenham.  Spurs put in a defensive display of such inepitutde, it will put smiles on the faces of their next Champions League opponents, AC Milan in a fortnight’s time.  Tottenham lost 4-0 at Fulham; Danny Murphy scoring two penalties against his former side.  Michael Dawson made two rare errors and got sent off for the second mistake, whilst Sebastian Bassong and William Gallas looked disorganised and disjointed throughout; terrorised by the power of Moussa Dembele.  Dembele completed the rout before half-time and the dejection could be written all over Harry Redknapp’s face.

RESCUE: Edin Dzeko's first goal saved Man City at Notts County

Another high-profile side that struggled was Manchester City.  Roberto Mancini’s millionaires struggled to a 1-1 draw at the oldest club in the Football League, Notts County.  For the likes of David Silva, it must be seen as a nightmare to play at Meadow Lane, when it was Soccer City in Johannesburg last summer.  Neil Bishop headed County infront with an hour gone, and Paul Ince’s side got within ten minutes of an upset, before £27million January signing Edin Dzeko spared City’s blushes, with a priceless equaliser.  Notts County showed great commitment throughout and deserve their second bite at the cherry.  Cup holders Chelsea also have to play again, scrapping to a 1-1 draw in Merseyside against Everton.  Louis Saha took advantage of some slack marking by John Terry to head the Toffees infront, just as he did in the 2009 final between these two sides.  Carlo Ancelotti turned to Salomon Kalou to rescue a replay.  The Ivorian scoring just three minutes after coming off the substitute’s bench.  Ramires hit the post in the dying stages, but a draw was the fair result.

Coventry City may not have won in eight Championship matches, but they came mighty close to upsetting Carling Cup finalists Birmingham City.  Having been 2-0 up in 25 minutes, through Marlon King and Richard Wood, Aidy Boothroyd will be disappointed to have not forced the Premiership side at least back to the Ricoh Arena.  David Bentley scored a stunner before half-time, and in the second half, Birmingham had recovered from their hangover, with the pesky Kevin Phillips scoring the winner in a 3-2 victory.  Nottingham Forest also came close, but not quite good enough.  They were defeated 3-2 at West Ham; Nigerian Victor Obinha scoring a hat-trick.  Elsewhere, Reading won a bruising match at Stevenage Borough, coming through 2-1; Shane Long scoring an 87^th minute winner and Stoke City won 1-0 at Wolves, through the head of lanky German defender Robert Huth.  The Potters can have Thomas Sorensen to thank though, for saving a stoppage time penalty from Nenad Mijias. 

Nineteen teams remain, with three replays required.  Wembley is getting ever closer in the 2010/11 FA Cup sponsored by Eon, and Crawley Town can see it as; ‘We’re only 2 games away!’  Well done to them, they deserve all the plaudits as the romance of the cup continues to inspire us all.

FA Cup 3rd round review - The giant-killers strike again

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

FA Cup 2nd round review - Dover and FC United of Manchester steal the headlines again

ANOTHER action-packed weekend of FA Cup action, saw the stars of round one, repeat the process in the second round of competitive action.  Eighteen ties went ahead, and league clubs found it difficult in the chilling sub-freezing temperatures.

Having defeated Gillingham in the first round, Dover Athletic were at it again against league opposition, this time overcoming league two side Aldershot Town 2-0.  Adam Birchall, who scored in the first round win at the Priestfield Stadium and scored eight goals previous to Saturday, added another two to his starring collection.  Dover will be disappointed however to get a trip to Huddersfield Town in round three, Huddersfield smashing Macclesfield Town 6-0, with six different goalscorers.

CREDITABLE: Nicky Platt has FC United on their way

FC United of Manchester’s amazing adventure continued, as they worked incredibly hard to earn a very creditable 1-1 draw at runaway league one leaders Brighton.  Nicky Platt, who netted in their sensational first round success against Rochdale, scored the opener for the visitors.  They were eight minutes away from another scalp, before Brighton assistant manager and 37-year old veteran Mauricio Taricco rescued an equaliser for Gus Poyet’s side.  Sam Ashton saved a last-minute penalty from Elliott Bennett to keep FC United in the tie.  The winners of the replay, at Bury’s Gigg Lane next Wednesday will take on last year’s losing finalists Portsmouth next.

SCRAP: Stevenage got the better of AFC Wimbledon

Goals from Josh Walker, who had just joined on loan from Watford and Yemi Odubade, were enough for Stevenage Borough to ease past Blue Square Premier League leaders AFC Wimbledon.  Stevenage, who had knocked out Milton Keynes Dons on penalties in round one and denied the dream match-up between Wimbledon/Dons were very strong throughout and thoroughly deserved their success, despite Wimbledon’s bravery throughout.

Both Swindon Town and Leyton Orient scrapped to 1-1 draws away from home in televised games.  Scott McGleish rescued a late equaliser for Orient against Droylsden, whilst Swindon was held by Crawley Town on Friday night.  Andy Drury grabbed a double, including a stunning equaliser to grab a replay for Luton Town at in-form Charlton Athletic.  Zamaretto Premier League side Swindon Supermarine, the lowest ranked side in the competition gave Colchester United a major scare, before succumbing to a David Mooney strike in a 1-0 defeat.  Northampton couldn’t repeat their Carling Cup success, going down 3-2 at Sheffield Wednesday, who are now under Milan Mandaric’s guidance, having taken over the club and Southampton advanced comfortably, cruising past Cheltenham Town 3-0 at St. Mary’s. 

With Arsenal v Leeds, Stevenage v Newcastle and Manchester United v Liverpool on the cards in round three, the FA Cup is now really starting to hot up.