LONDON, 9 November 2006 — Holders Manchester United were dumped out of the English League Cup on Tuesday when they lost 1-0 to second division bottom side Southend United in the fourth round.
Celebrations for Alex Ferguson’s 20 years in charge of the Premier League leaders were quickly forgotten when Southend’s leading scorer Freddy Eastwood, tracked by several top flight clubs, curled in a 30-meter free kick on 27 minutes.
“I am a Man United fan. We didn’t think we were going to beat them...but Cup games are hard and they have found that out tonight,” Eastwood told Sky Sports.
Ferguson rested some players but still picked a strong side including striker Wayne Rooney and winger Cristiano Ronaldo. A weakened United team had suffered a scare against third division Crewe in the third round.
United became increasingly desperate but had chances to equalize with midfielder David Jones hitting a post straight after Eastwood’s goal and Ronaldo forcing Southend goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan into three superb saves.
The side from a town east of London stood firm, however, with the defense giving Rooney an especially rough time. Southend had not previously won in 12 games but still produced the biggest upset in their history.
Premier League bottom club Charlton Athletic narrowly avoided another shock by beating third division Chesterfield on penalties after drawing 3-3 after extra time.
Charlton twice came from behind and took the lead through Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s second strike on 93 minutes but Chesterfield sent the tie to penalties thanks to Wayne Allison’s goal in the last minute of extra time.
Newcastle United also sneaked through to the quarterfinals after overcoming fellow Premier League strugglers Watford in sudden-death penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra time. Newcastle midfielder Scott Parker had forced penalties by netting on 116 minutes. Wycombe Wanderers also progressed after beating fellow fourth division club Notts County 1-0 in normal time.
Celtic Crash Out of League Cup
After Penalty Shootout
In Glasgow, holders Celtic crashed out of the Scottish League Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout against Falkirk in their quarterfinal on Tuesday when Evander Sno missed the target in sudden death. After a goalless 90 minutes in the tie, before Celtic’s lowest home crowd of the season of 18,684, two goals came within a minute in extra time.
Celtic’s Jan Vennegoor had an angled shot deflected toward the back post in 99 minutes where Polish substitute Maciej Zurawski stooped to head home from a meter. Falkirk surged upfield and Alan Gow whipped the ball across the face of goal seven meters out for Anthony Stokes to side-foot a volley high past keeper Artur Boruc to level the score.
The tie then lurched into penalty kicks where it ended 3-3 and moved to sudden death where Sno blasted his effort high past the left post for a 5-4 win for Falkirk. Falkirk scored through Vitor Lima and Jack Ross while Zurawski buried his spot kick for Celtic.
Celtic were fortunate to beat Hearts 2-1 in the league on Saturday when goalkeeper Craig Gordon fumbled a last minute shot into the net for the winner. Luck deserted them in penalties, though. Kilmarnock beat Motherwell 3-2 in their quarterfinal clash with a late winner from Australian striker Danny Invincibile. Invincibile curled home a 70th minute shot to end a thrilling Cup tie which began with Frazer Wright putting Kilmarnock ahead in seven minutes.
Frings, Diego See Leaders
Werder to Victory
In Berlin, Bundesliga leaders Werder Bremen won 2-1 at Nuremberg on Tuesday to maintain their two-point advantage over VfB Stuttgart who struck late to beat Hamburg SV 2-0.
Torsten Frings fired in the opening goal for Werder with a low shot from outside the box in the 32nd minute and Diego struck with a free kick 11 minutes from time. An Ivica Banovic penalty deep in injury time came too late to save Nuremberg.
Stuttgart were second best to Hamburg for much of their game at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion but they took the lead in the 80th minute when Mario Gomez turned in his seventh goal of the season. Thomas Hitzlsperger added the second five minutes later. With 11 matches played, Werder are top with 23 points, followed by Stuttgart on 21. Bayern Munich will climb back to within three points of Werder if they manage a win at home to bottom club Hanover 96. Schalke 04, who are also six points behind Werder with a game in hand, are away to Borussia Moenchengladbach in another Wednesday game.
Hamburg’s defeat leaves them in real trouble. With 11 games played they remain in 15th place with just nine points.
Hamburg coach Thomas Doll has had to deal with a terrible run of injuries and his patched-up team deserved at least a point for their efforts on Tuesday. The northerners were missing Juan Pablo Sorin, Vincent Kompany, Bastian Reinhardt, Guy Demel, Raphael Wicky, Nigel de Jong and Collin Benjamin because of injuries yet they still held their own against a team enjoying a fine run of form.
Unfortunately for Hamburg they failed to take their chances, with Rafael van der Vaart a notable culprit when he sliced a half-volley high and wide after being teed up in the 37th minute.
