TYKES LIVE LARGE AT ANFIELD! I said when the draw came out that if Barnsley caught Liverpool just right they could surprise them and they did. Luke Steele kept the visitors in this match with some stellar keeping in the last 20 minutes of the game. He should be buying a few pints for the defenders that saved him a few times. Stephen Foster, Bobby Hassell and Robert Kuzluk threw themselves at anything that headed towards the net and were very frustrating for the Reds attack down the stretch.
Dirk Kuyt started the scoring with a 32nd minute goal and it looked like the rout might be on. Liverpool pushed constantly for the insurance goal, they just couldn’t find the solution to the Barnsley defense. Foster tied the match early in the second half with a nice goal off of his noggin. Martin Devaney sent in a cross with very little space and found the defender for the goal. Rafa Benitez was forced to bring on Harry Kewell and Steven Gerrard to salvage the game, but even they couldn’t solve the riddle of Steele. It looked as though this one was headed for a replay until Brian Howard kept his head, created space for himself, then fired home the shot of the round as he sent Barnsley to the quarter-finals and Liverpool out of yet another competition. Liverpool 1-2 Barnsley!
Saints go marching home. Bristol Rovers have now beaten clubs in every division of English football from the Blue Square Premier to the Premier League. This was probably the easiest of the lot. The Rovers only faced one dangerous shot from Southampton all day and that one would only have counted on a rugby pitch. The only goal of the match was a snapshot of Soton’s day. Rickie Lambert’s free kick deflected off of Saint’s defender Jermaine Wright and into Kelvin Davis’ net. Southampton never really looked to threaten the League One side and deserved to hang their heads at the final whistle. Bristol Rovers 1-0 Southampton.
Lampard sinks Huddersfield at the Bridge. Avram Grant started a good side for this match with John Terry coming back from his broken foot. However, it was recent returnee Frank Lampard who welcomed himself back to the lineup with two goals and an assist. Huddersfield were scrappy and actually gave the Blues some concern at the half when they tied the score at 1-1. Chelsea showed that they are the FA Cup holders though in the second half with two scores and cruised into the quarters. Chelsea 3-1 Huddersfield.
Bluebirds nip Wolves early at Ninian Park. The Welsh contingent for the quarter-finals is ready to go, after their early goals by Peter Whittingham and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made the rest of the game moot. Wolverhampton did well when they played Cardiff City in Wales earlier in league play. They just didn’t have the same spark today. Cardiff City 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Baggies rock the Ricoh Arena. The Sky Blues beat Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup and Manchester United in the League Cup, both were away games for Coventry City. So hosting West Brom in the 5th round should have been easy….right? Apparently the Baggies didn’t get the memo. The stats were even in all aspects of the game, except one. Goals by Chris Brunt, Roman Bednar (2), Ishmael Miller and Zoltan Gera had the City faithful seeing blue in the end. Coventry City 0-5 West Brom.
Beating at Old Trafford! No one would have predicted that when the top two teams in the country got together on Saturday night that it would be such a lopsided affair. Arsenal had some injuries for this match, but the team that Arsene Wenger put on the pitch would be a starting lineup that many Premiership clubs would love to have.
The Red Devils out-shot the Gunners 5 to 1 and at times Jens Lehmann had to be wishing that he were riding the bench for this one. Arsenal were down 2-0 in the first 20 minutes and could have been up by more. Sir Alex Ferguson started Nani and Anderson in the midfield and was well rewarded. These two were involved in all four goals today. Speaking of involved, where has this Darren Fletcher been? Two goals by the Scotsman brings his season total to…two. Welcome back Fletch!
On the ugly side, Emmanuel Eboue was sent off very early in the second half with a bad challenge on Patrice Evra. Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, De Silva Eduardo, Emmanuel Adebayor and Gilberto Silva all saw yellow cards in the second half.
Both clubs have big Champions League matches this week so thankfully there were no major injuries for either of them.
More matches Sunday and the draw for the next round is Monday so the fun continues.
