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| January 07, 2007 | Sunday | Zilhaj 16, 1427 |
More woes for Charlton with FA Cup defeat
LONDON, Jan 6: Premier League strugglers Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United were both knocked out of the FA Cup by third division sides on Saturday as Nottingham Forest and Swansea City respectively took the third round honours.
Charlton, struggling near the foot of the Premier League, were convincingly beaten 2-0 by Forest – who lost 5-0 last week – while a weakened Sheffield went down 3-0 at home to the Welsh side.
There were no such problems for Chelsea, however, as a Frank Lampard hat-trick helped them thump Macclesfield 6-1, while Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and Watford all progressed against lower league opposition.
Middlesbrough, Fulham and Newcastle United were all held to draws by second division teams while Portsmouth beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 in all-Premier clash.
The dreams of the two remaining minor league clubs ended as Tamworth lost 4-1 at home to second division Norwich City while while Aldershot went down 4-2 at third division Blackpool.
Experienced front duo Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin each scored twice as Norwich City avoided any slip against Tamworth.
On one of the most eagerly awaited days of the English football calendar, Norwich had been identified as possible giant-killing victims by having their lunchtime kickoff screened live by the BBC but they were never threatened.
Tamworth held their own for most of the first half of a game played on a bog of a pitch but their hopes disappeared just before halftime.
Dublin, the 37-year-old former England international who began his peripatetic career as a Norwich trainee almost 20 years ago, glanced in a header from a Huckerby cross in the 40th minute and two minutes later flicked on for Huckerby to shoot the second.Norwich, into the fourth round for only the second time in 10 years, grabbed a soft third six minutes after the restart when Tamworth keeper Jose Veiga, formerly of Benfica, dived over a Huckerby shot and Dublin got his second following another defensive blunder just after the hour.
Tamworth eventually gave their supporters something to cheer when they pulled one back with a crisp Kyle Storer shot after 68 minutes but it was The Canaries singing at full time.
The third round continues later on Saturday with holders Liverpool against Arsenal. There are four more ties on Sunday including two more all-Premier games between Manchester United and Aston Villa and Everton and Blackburn Rovers.
The final, on May 19, will be played at the rebuilt Wembley after a six-year run at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Results:
Third round:
Played on Saturday:
Birmingham City 2 Newcastle United 2
Blackpool 4 Aldershot Town 2
Bristol City 3 Coventry City 3
Chelsea 6 Macclesfield Town 1
Chester City 0 Ipswich Town 0
Crystal Palace 2 Swindon Town 1
Derby County 3 Wrexham 1
Doncaster Rovers 0 Bolton Wanderers 4
Hull City 1 Middlesbrough 1
Leicester City 2 Fulham 2
Nottingham Forest 2 Charlton Athletic 0
Peterborough United 1 Plymouth Argyle 1
Portsmouth 2 Wigan Athletic 1
Preston North End 1 Sunderland 0
Queens Park Rangers 2 Luton Town 2
Sheffield United 0 Swansea City 3
Southend United 1 Barnsley 1
Torquay United 0 Southampton 2
Watford 4 Stockport County 1
West Bromwich Albion 3 Leeds United 1
West Ham United 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Oldham Athletic 2
Tamworth 1 Norwich City 4
Played on Friday:
Bristol Rovers 1 Hereford United 0
Stoke City 2 Millwall 0
-—Reuters
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