TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Preston shrug off fan protests to rain goals on Colchester • Preston hammer Colchester 7-0 despite fan demonstration• Derby escape with a draw at Millwall, Ipswich beat BlackpoolPreston's decision to sack their popular manager, Alan Irvine, last week brought a fans' demonstration against the club's chairman, Derek Shaw, and their board before the tie against Colchester. However, their dissent outside the Sir Tom Finney stand at Deepdale inevitably became more muted as Preston achieved the afternoon's biggest win, thrashing their League One opponents 7-0.It was some result for a team with only two victories in their previous 11 matches, and marked a hugely impressive return to scoring form for their big centre-forward John Parkin. Having gone 10 matches without scoring, Parkin, affectionately known as "The Beast" among his admirers, scored his first-hat-trick in almost 50 appearances for the club. His goals yesterday included one from a penalty awarded for a foul on him. The problems he created for Colchester's defence were also illustrated by Preston's fifth goal, when his shot hit the post and the rebound was deflected into the net off the back of Colchester's Ben Williams.The small handful of teams who avoided defeat against opposition from a higher level included Millwall. They went ahead against Derby when Lewis Grabban converted a Chris Hackett cross, but three minutes later Kris Commons capitalised on hesitant defending by the home team to make it 1-1. Both sides had chances to win it, with Millwall's Steve Morison – the scorer of seven goals in his previous seven matches – going particularly close through a header that was cleared off the line. The Derby manager Nigel Clough said: "I think it was a fair result in the end but we're very pleased to get away from here with the draw. I warned our two centre-halves about the threat of Morison and I was proved right. We'll have another tough match on our hands when we get back to Pride Park."If any team could be said to have contributed to their own downfall, it was Blackpool, at home to Ipswich. They did not have much luck when, after Jack Colback had given Ipswich a third-minute lead with an excellent shot from the edge of the penalty area – the day's quickest Cup goal – they hit the woodwork three times. Gary Taylor-Fletcher did it twice and, more agonisingly, Charlie Adam followed suit from a penalty. Blackpool did equalise through a Brett Ormerod header, but then had two men sent off for professional fouls, Ian Evatt and Rob Edwards and their manager, Ian Holloway, was dismissed to the stand for his protests.Holloway had even more to be upset about when the Ipswich substitute Owen Garvan fired in the winner from a free-kick. "I let myself down," Holloway admitted. "But but my players didn't let me down."Newcastle's manager, Chris Hughton, made seven changes to his starting line-up for the tie at Plymouth and, predictably, the Championship leaders had to settle for a 0-0 draw. It was not the best of rewards for the willingness of 2,400 Newcastle fans to make the 820-mile round trip to watch this tie, although even with a weakened team Newcastle did look the team most likely to win. Danny Guthrie twice went close to scoring in the first half, as did Nicky Butt near the end with a 25-yard volley that was superbly saved by the Plymouth goalkeeper Romain Larrieu.West Bromwich Albion, keeping Newcastle company in the Championship's automatic promotion zone, won 2-0 at Huddersfield with two late goals in the space of six minutes from Graham Dorrans and Chris Wood.Unlike Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, another club to have parted company with their manager recently, were unable to give themselves an FA Cup lift. Far from it in fact because in front of a paltry Hillsborough crowd of only 8,690, their run without a win was increased to 12 matches with the 2-1 defeat by Crystal Palace. Palace, whose players have not yet been paid their December wages, put their off-field troubles behind them to take the lead through Neil Danns. Although an own-goal by the Palace defender Clint Hill brought Wednesday level, Palace's substitute Calvin Andrew cashed in on poor defending by the home team to score his team's second.The decision by the Leicester manager Nigel Pearson to name an unchanged team at home to Swansea – unlike the visitors – paid off as they came from behind for a 2-1 win.The Scunthorpe goal that gave them a 1-0 win over Barnsley came from Paul Hayes, a former Barnsley player. Thanks to Andrew Croft, Brighton also achieved a 1-0 win, at Torquay.FA CupPreston North EndColchesterMillwallDerby CountyBlackpoolIpswich TownPlymouth ArgyleNewcastle UnitedSheffield WednesdayCrystal PalaceScunthorpeBarnsleyTorquay UnitedBrighton & Hove AlbionLeicester CitySwanseaHuddersfieldWest BromJason Tomasguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Is Patrick Vieira past his best? The Frenchman captained Arsenal's invincibles, but is now 33 and returns to England only after Internazionale opted not to renew his contract, and having played just 12 league games this season. Have City got themselves a bargain, or is he destined to flop? guardian.co.uk |
Global Soccer: What Lies Beneath: Talent and Spirit Presumptions that Chelsea or Barcelona would lose ground in their domestic leagues while their African players were appearing in the African Cup of Nations appear to have been greatly exaggerated. feeds.nytimes.com |
Mutu pushes Fiorentina past Lazio in Italian Cup Adrian Mutu scored twice and assisted on a third Wednesday to help Fiorentina knock defending champion Lazio out of the Italian Cup with a 3-2 win. cbc.ca |
Portsmouth 1 West Ham United 1: match report Danny Webber rescues a point for Portsmouth to cancel out Matthew Upson's opener. telegraph.co.uk |