© EuroFootball.com
In the fifth stage of the English Football Association Cup yesterday, five matches were played. Only three teams managed to successfully cross this barrier - "Man Utd", "Leicester City" and "Bolton", while "Arsenal" and "Southampton" will have to replay this stage. Three more matches will take place today.
The most intriguing match took place in Liverpool, where the local team "Everton" lost to "Man Utd" players 0-2. As expected, former darling of "Everton" fans W.Rooney, returning to "Goodison Park" stadium, was greeted with booing and dissatisfaction. However, it seems that it did not affect the "Red Devils" and already in the 23rd minute Q.Fortune scored the visitors' first goal with a header from a pass by C.Ronaldo.
In the second half, C.Ronaldo himself doubled the score after the goalkeeper failed to clear the ball. By the way, an incident occurred in this match - a mobile phone thrown from the stands hit "Man Utd" goalkeeper R.Carroll's head. The police started an investigation into this incident.
In another match, the strongest club of last season in England, "Arsenal", failed to maintain their lead and played a draw at home against a lower league team "Sheffield" with a tied score. In the 35th minute, the hosts were left with ten men after Dutchman D.Bergkamp was sent off.
Despite this, in the 78th minute, the hosts, not playing in the strongest lineup, took the lead after a precise shot by the Frenchman R.Pires. However, in the final minute of the match, "Gunners" defender F.Senderosas handled the ball inside the penalty area and the referee immediately awarded a penalty kick. It was successfully converted by A.Gray.
In other matches, the unbeaten this year "Bolton" team at home, in front of 16 thousand spectators, narrowly defeated the poorly playing "Fulham" team. The only goal of the match was scored by K.Davies in the 11th minute.
Another unexpected result was recorded in the match between the top league clubs "Southampton" and "Brentford". Thanks to two goals from H.Camara, the hosts led 2-0 in the 36th minute, but the visitors did not give up and managed to secure a draw, keeping their chances of reaching the next stage of the cup tournament.
The match between "Leicester" and "Charlton" clubs also ended unexpectedly. The home team "Charlton" club was forced to admit the opponents' superiority with a result of 2-1. Last season's "Premier" league competitor "Leicester" scored the winning goal in the last minute with a header from veteran Dion Dublin.
All Saturday results:
1 - 1 "Sheffield United"
78' [1 - 0] Robert Pires
90' [1 - 1] Andy Gray (from an 11-meter penalty)
35' Dennis Bergkamp sent off ("Arsenal")
1 - 0
11' [1 - 0] Kevin Davies
1 - 2
38' [0 - 1] Nikos Dabizas
45' [1 - 1] Shaun Bartlett
90' [1 - 2] Dion Dublin
2 - 2 "Brentford"
4' [1 - 0] Henri Camara
36' [2 - 0] Henri Camara
40' [2 - 1] Isaiah Rankin
58' [2 - 2] Sam Sodje
0 - 2
23' [0 - 1] Quinton Fortune
58' [0 - 2] Cristiano Ronaldo
