FA Cup: Nuneaton force Middlesbrough into a replay


Written by: Nick Sterling
2006-01-07 19:31:43

England FA (SW)
  England FA (SW)
LONDON, Jan 7 (SW) - None of the Premiership teams were defeated in Saturday's FA Cup fixtures, although there were defenitely some shock results. Nuneaton Borough earned a replay against Middlesbrough, while Torquay held Birmingham to a goalless draw.

Arsenal - Cardiff City 2-1

Arsenal started the day's fixtures with an early kick off at home to Cardiff City who won by the narrowest of margins, despite the fielding a very much a second string side. Robert Pires opened the scoring after just 6 minutes for Arsenal and added another to his tally 12 minutes later. Cardiff pulled a goal back late in the match through Cameron Jerome, but it wasn't enough to claim a replay.

Blackburn Rovers - Queens Park Rangers 3-0

Blackburn showed the difference in class between the Premier League and the Championship as they saw off a QPR side who didn't seem to have the strength to take the game to the home side. Andy Todd scored the first goal after 17 minutes with Craig Bellamy grabbing a second for Rovers 10 minutes before the interval. With 4 minutes remaining in the match, Bellamy struck for his second of the game.

Chelsea - Huddersfield Town 2-1

Chelsea almost suffered the biggest shock of the day as a defiant Huddersfield would not be beaten easily by the Premiership champions. Carlton Cole scored his first goal for Chelsea this season in the 12th minute and they looked good for the win until the 75th when Gary Taylor-Fletcher struck for the visitors to equalise. Only an 82nd minute goal by Eidur Gudjohnsen saved the Blues blushes.

Hull City - Aston Villa 0-1

Aston Villa will see their name in the draw for the next round of the FA Cup thanks to Gareth Barry. His lone strike in the 62nd minute was enough to see the Villains see Hull off at the Kingston Communications Stadium.

Ipswich Town - Portsmouth 0-1

Portsmouth managed to set aside all of their transfer rumours for the day to set their sights on the next round of the Cup at the expense of Ipswich. Dario Silva did the job for Pompey in the 37th minute as he scored the only goal of the game.

Manchester City - Scunthorpe United 3-1

Man City went into the half time break 1-0 down to Scunthorpe thanks to an Andrew Keogh goal scored in the 17th minute. Stuart Pearce must have given his side an inspirational team-take during the break as the second half was played by a totally different side - with Robbie Fowler at the forefront. Fowler scored the equaliser for City just 3 mnutes into the second half and had his side in the lead just 8 minutes later. He wrapped up the game for City and his hat-trick in the 64th minute from the penalty spot.

Millwall - Everton 1-1

Millwall earned themselves a trip to Goodison Park with much of the plaudits going to Marvin Williams who scored the opener on his first start for the senior side in the 39th minute. Leon Osman forced the replay with 10 minutes remaining with his first goal of the season.

Newcastle United - Mansfield Town 1-0

Mansfield deserved to travel the 150-mile coach trip home with more than a simple defeat after putting up a brave fight and actually having much of the play for a full 80 minutes until Alan Shearer broke the deadlock at St. James' to equal Toon legend Jackie Milburn's scoring record for the club.

Norwich City - West Ham United 1-2

Norwich couldn't have started the game much worse as they saw themselves 1-0 down after just 6 minutes at Carrow Road thanks to a Hayden Mullins strike. Bobby Zamora doubled the lead for the London side 10 minutes into the second half but Paul McVeigh pulled one back for the Canaries from the spot in the 72nd. Norwich 'keeper Rob Green had to be stretchered off the field with a few minutes left as he was knocked unconscious when his head accidentally met Marlon Harewood's knee when he dived to make a save.

Nuneaton Borough - Middlesbrough 1-1

Nuneaton have earned themselves a place in the history books as the non-league outfit luckily held on to gain a replay at the Riverside Stadium. Gaizka Mendieta's well placed free kick put 'Boro ahead on 15 minutes, but a Gez Murphy penalty deep into injury time means the two sides will face each other again.

Sheffield Wednesday - Charlton Athletic 2-4

One of the games of the day took place at Hillsborough where a brave effort by the Championship side was never going to be enough to beat Charlton who were always taking the game to Wednesday. Dennis Rommedahl scored his third goal of the season for Charlton after just 13 minutes, but a Paul Heckingbottom goal had the sides on level terms just 3 minutes later. A goal for Matt Holland and a second for Rommedahl sent Charlton into the half time break with a 3-1 lead. Heckingbottom once more pulled a goal back for the home side in the 60th minute which made for an exciting finish, but the game was killed off when Darren Bent made it 4-2 with 3 minutes left on the clock.

Torquay United - Birmingham City 0-0

The third lowest league team in England managed to hold on for a replay against the team who are 71 places higher than them across the English leagues. Despite Birmingham underachieving in the Premiership this season, they were firm favourites to come away from Plainmoor with a result, but Torquay battled hard and the two will now face each other at St. Andrews.

Watford - Bolton Wanderers 0-3

Jared Borgetti scored his third goal for Bolton when he opened the scoring in the 10th minute at Vicarage Road. Stelios Giannakopoulos doubled the lead in the 34th and Ricardo Vaz Te finished the game off in style with 15 minutes remaining to see off Watford at their home ground.

West Bromwich Albion - Reading 1-1

It was a tale of two penalties at The Hawthorns as both sides netted late on from the spot. Zoltan Gera scored the first to put West Brom ahead in the 82nd minute, but referee Matt Messias levelled the penalty decisions 2 minutes later which led to Kevin Doyle also equalling the score.

Wigan Athletic - Leeds United 1-1

A late goal for Leeds gave them some hope of making it into the next round after Wigan held on for much of the second half. David Connolly opened the scoring in the 47th minute only for Rob Hulse to cancel his goal out in the 88th.

Luton Town - Liverpool 3-5

Liverpool were heavy favourites to come through this game relatively unscathed after their performances of late, but Luton had other ideas and were prepared to make the Reds work hard for a victory. Steven Gerrard scored the first goal in the 16th minute but Luton scored an equaliser 15 minutes later, and then added another just before half time to go into the break 2-1 up. Luton started the second half brightly too as a 53rd minute Kevin Nicholls penalty saw them go two goals to the good. Liverpool then kicked into action with three goals in 12 minutes. 57th minute substitute Florent Sinama-Pongolle pulled his side within contention only 5 minutes after coming onto the pitch before Xabi Alonso scored a stunning 30-yard equaliser. Sinama then added another to his tally to send Liverpool into the lead in the 74th minute. The game was wrapped up in the 94th minute by Alonso when he took advantage of the Luton goalkeeper pressing forward for a corner and getting the ball into an open net from well within his own half.



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