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| January 08, 2007 | Monday | Zilhaj 17, 1427 |
FA Cup Third Round: Last-gasp goal earns Man Utd win
LONDON, Jan 7: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer struck in injury time to earn Manchester United a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
The game had been heading for a draw after Milan Baros had cancelled out a goal by Henrik Larsson on the Swede's United debut.
Joining United in Monday's third round draw are Blackburn Rovers, who won 4-1 at Everton, while second division Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City face a replay after a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough.
Tottenham Hotspur were playing away at Cardiff City later on Sunday in the weekend's final game.
At Old Trafford United had dominated the first half without really threatening until Larsson, who has joined on a three-month loan from Helsingborgs, broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.
The former Swedish international striker was picked out by Wayne Rooney and finished cleanly from 15 metres.
From then on it became a stream of United attacks with Ryan Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo all going close.
However, the 11-times Cup winners then paid for their failure to finish as Villa, without a win in their previous 10 games, finally roused themselves into a brief period of pressure.
After Gary Cahill and Isaiah Osbourne had threatened, substitute Baros beat stand-in goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak with a low shot after a neat control and turn.
Just as it seemed Villa would hold out for the draw, Rooney fed Solskjaer in the inside right channel and the Norwegian striker, on as a 78th minute replacement for Larsson, fired in a crisp first-time shot that on-loan Hungarian international goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly somehow allowed through his grasp and over the line.
Blackburn stunned Goodison Park with three goals in the first 38 minutes through Matt Derbyshire, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Paul Gallagher and Everton's only reply was a 69th minute Andrew Johnson penalty before Benni McCarthy got Blackburn's injury-time fourth.
Manchester City barely mustered a shot at Hillsborough before a Georgios Samaras penalty gave them the lead in the 78th minute.
Wednesday deservedly levelled within a minute with a great goal by Steve MacLean.
On Saturday holders Liverpool were knocked out when they lost 3-1 at home to Arsenal while Premier League strugglers Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United were beaten by third division sides Nottingham Forest and Swansea respectively.
Results:
Third round:
Played on Sunday:
Everton 1 Blackburn Rovers 4
Sheffield Wednesday 1 Manchester City 1
Manchester United 2 Aston Villa 1
Played on Saturday:
Liverpool 1 Arsenal 3
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 Utd 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Wolves 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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