English League Carling Cup Results
Championship Side Burnley Knock Arsenal Out To Reach Semi-Finals
Burnley 2 Arsenal 0
Owen Coyle’s managerial stock just continues to rise after seeing his Burnley side make it a hat trick of wins over London-based Premiership sides in this season’s competition, by defeating Arsene Wenger’s much-vaunted youngsters 2-0 at Turf Moor.
Following on from their penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the last round and a 1-0 home win over Fulham in round three, a brace from Kevin McDonald, allied to another superb goalkeeping performance from Brian Jensen, was enough to knock out an Arsenal side that had hugely impressed in earlier rounds.
Now in the job for just over a year, following his stint as boss of Scottish Division One side St Johnstone, Coyle has seen his Burnley side overcome a shaky start to the season to climb up to fourth in the Championship table and on the verge of a Wembley final, and potentially a place in next seasons inaugural UEFA Europa League.
His summer transfer dealings have shown him to be a very astute judge of a player and a blessing for those who control the purse strings.
He offloaded the Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty to Glasgow Rangers for an inflated £3.4m fee while replacing him with his international colleague Martin Patterson, a £1m purchase, who now has eleven goals this season while Lafferty has struggled badly in Scotland.
He also invested £500,000 in signing Scottish U-21 international Kevin McDonald from Dundee, despite competition from bigger clubs, which now appears to be a steal judging by the 20-year-old’s match winning performance against Arsenal.
Manchester United 5 Blackburn Rovers 3
Carlos Tevez, with four goals, was the Manchester United hero as they overcame Paul Ince’s Blackburn 5-3 in a thriller at Old Trafford, despite making ten changes from the side that triumphed in the weekend’s Manchester derby.
Tevez, who has become increasingly marginalized at Old Trafford following United’s £30m signing of Dimitar Berbatov, came up with a timely reminder to Sir Alex Ferguson of his undoubted talents with a superb individual performance that enthralled the 54,000 in attendance.
Nani, assisted by Tevez, was United’s other goalscorer while Benni McCarthy (2) and Matt Derbyshire replied for Blackburn, whose manager Paul Ince is coming under increasing pressure to turnaround his side’s poor form.
Watford 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Goals from strikers Pavyluchenko and Bent were enough for cup holders Tottenham to overcome a Watford side who had taken an early lead through their Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin.
Tottenham responded well to falling behind and dominated the first half but missed a series of fine chances before a trip on Jermaine Jenas in first half stoppage time allowed Russian striker Roman Pavyluchenko to level from the spot.
The winning goal came from substitute Darren Bent whose shot from fifteen yards squeezed in at the goalkeepers near post to give him his twelfth goal of the season.
Stoke City 0 Derby County 1
Nathan Ellington calmly slotted home a last-gasp penalty that saw Paul Jewell’s Derby side make it two Championship sides in the last four.
Derby who had earlier hit the woodwork twice, through Commons and Addison, were awarded a penalty in the ninety-fourth minute when Stoke’s Andy Griffin was adjudged to have handled a Kazmierczak’s cross.
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