Of the full compliment of twenty Premiership sides who entered the cup in the third round, four have already been knocked out following upsets.
Every season the third round of the FA Cup is usually a humbling experience for at least one of the Premiership teams. Already, this year has been no exception with Birmingham, Bolton, Everton and Blackburn eliminated by lower league opposition and a number of other big sides forced into replays.
Huddersfield Town 2 v 1 Birmingham City
After a professional performance in mid week, which resulted in only a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, Birmingham’s confidence was dealt a blow with defeat to the team currently lying fourteenth in League 1.
The goals that gave Huddersfield victory came in the first and last ten minutes of the game.
Luke Beckett opened the scoring for the underdogs in the fourth minute only for Gary O’Connor to level the tie up just before the midway point in the first half. The home side were not to be denied, however, and on 81 minutes Chris Brandon, who had come very close to scoring on a couple of earlier occasions, conjured up his own brand of cup magic by volleying home to send the Galpharm Stadium into euphoria and Huddersfield into the fourth round.
Bolton 0 v 1 Sheffield United
Gary Megson’s team selection for this game made an obvious statement that his priorities this season lie firmly in achieving Premiership survival.
The Bolton manager paid the price for leaving seven of his normal first eleven players out of the starting line up, but it was one he will probably regard as negligible if his side finish the Premiership season in seventeenth place or above.
Sheffield United, who are currently sixteenth in the Championship under new coach Brian Robson, gave their fans a pleasant break from their disappointing league form when David Carney scored the game’s only goal on 42 minutes.
Without Kevin Davies or Nicholas Anelka, Bolton struggled to create chances and, despite Danny Guthrie going close late on, their toothless attack failed to stop The Blades leaving The Reebok Stadium with a victory.
Everton 0 v 1 Oldham
The kick off to this game was delayed by half an hour due to a fire at a nearby takeaway. When proceedings finally got underway it was Everton who ended up with burnt chips as Oldham of League 1 created possibly the upset of the round at Goodison Park.
The game’s decisive moments were virtually the last kicks of both the first and second half.
In the dying seconds of the first forty five minutes, Gary McDonald’s superb twenty five yard drive put the visitors ahead. Oldham produced some heroic defending to protect their lead until, with the final whistle about to go, Yakubu was presented with the opportunity to earn his team a reply, but his shot struck the post.
Blackburn 1 v 4 Coventry
After dumping Manchester United out of the League Cup at Old Trafford earlier in the season, Coventry produced the performance of the round to sweep past Blackburn at Ewood Park.
The Coventry heroes were Michael Mifsud, who scored the game’s first goal in the 34th minute and last goal just before the final whistle, and Dele Adebola, whose run and finish in the 83rd minute put the game beyond doubt.
Coventry’s second goal came via an Elliot Ward penalty on 64 minutes and it was David Bentley who got Blackburn’s consolation goal with five minutes to go, but by this time the Sky Blues were already clearly out of sight.
