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Leeds kick United out of FA Cup Utd suffer 1st third-round defeat since 1984; Chelsea crush Watford 5-0 LONDON: Leeds United sent Manchester United crashing to their most embarrassing FA Cup defeat for 26 years when they scored a shock 1-0 third-round victory at Old Trafford yesterday. A 19th-minute goal from in-form striker Jermaine Beckford gave the League One (third division) leaders victory as Manchester United, who have won the Cup a record 11 times, went out at this stage for the first time since 1984. Holders Chelsea made sure there was no slip-up at Stamford Bridge where they crushed Championship (second division) Watford 5-0 after streaking into a 30 lead in 22 minutes. Arsenal, the second most successful club in the cup’s history with 10 wins, left it late to beat West Ham United in a pulsating allLondon tie at Upton Park. Goals from Aaron Ramsey after 78 minutes and Eduardo five minutes later gave the visitors a 2-1 win after Alessandro Diamanti had put the Hammers ahead just before the break. The biggest upset of the round, and the competition, for many years came at Old Trafford where Beckford’s solitary strike was fashioned by a 50-metre punt from Johnny Howson. The ball went over the champions’ defense, allowing Beckford to get a touch and angle a shot wide of keeper Tomas Kuszczak. It was the first time Alex Ferguson had suffered defeat in the third round, the stage at which the top clubs enter the FA Cup, since he became United manager in 1986. United’s first loss to lower league opposition since 1984 also gave Leeds a memorable victory at a ground where they regularly used to duel with United for national supremacy before their slide down the leagues. BIG SHOCK The 9,000 away fans went wild with delight at the end of a thrilling tie which produced the first big shock of the round after a series of predictable results on Saturday. “I must admit I didn’t expect that performance,” Ferguson told MUTV. “If you don’t start and the other team does, you’re always up against it. Leeds had a far bigger appetite than us for the game. You need a bit of luck and they got it but they deserved it because they played really well.” Leeds manager Simon Grayson was full of praise for his team. “It was a good long diagonal ball from Johnny Howson and nine times out of 10 Jermaine finishes them off and that’s what he did,” he told ITV. “We gave ourselves an opportunity to go and win the game from there and with a bit of luck here and there we’ve hung on. “I am sure they will be celebrating in Leeds for the next few days. The players will have tomorrow off then we will start preparing for the match against Wycombe.” Grayson’s men thoroughly deserved their victory which would have been more comfortable if Beckford had scored after 78 minutes instead of dragging his shot just wide. Robert Snodgrass smashed a 25-metre free kick against the United bar two minutes later before keeper Casper Ankergren parried a goalbound effort from Wayne Rooney in stoppage time. Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov and Rooney went close for United but Leeds, who needed a replay to get past non-League Kettering Town in the last round, hung on for a memorable victory-their first at Old Trafford since 1981. NO UPSET Chelsea cruised past Watford at Stamford Bridge where Daniel Sturridge, John Eustace (own goal) and Florent Malouda settled the outcome with early goals. Frank Lampard and Sturridge scored in the second half to ensure Chelsea eliminated Watford for the second season running. Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “I am happy because it was important to start the New Year well. “If you don’t take the game in the right way it could be difficult but we were up 3-0 after 20 minutes and we played well for the full 90 minutes.” West Ham looked as if they would cause an upset against Arsenal after Diamanti gave them the lead with a left-foot shot that squeezed past keeper Lukasz Fabianski just before halftime. But Arsenal hit back late in the game with goals from Ramsey and Eduardo, who scored a well-taken header, turning the game.— Reuters
MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s Northern Irish defender Jonny Evans (third right) puts the ball wide past Leeds United’s Danish goalkeeper Casper Ankergren during their English FA Cup football match at Old Trafford yesterday. — AFP
Qatar’s driver seizes control of Dakar Rally Authorities investigate ‘horror crash’ A RIOJA: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah seized control of the Dakar Rally yesterday as an investigation into the horror crash which claimed the life of a 28-yearold spectator continued. Al-Attiyah, driving a Volkswagen, won the second stage, a 355km timed run from Cordoba, to take a 1min 19sec overall lead over teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain who was fourth on the day. It was an early 2010 boost for the Qatari driver whose 2009 race ended in controversy when he was disqualified while leading the race. France’s Guerlin Chicherit, in a BMW, was second on the stage followed by three more Volkswagen drivers - Carlos Neves, Sainz and Mark Miller. Six-time motorcycle winner and three-time auto champion Stephane Peterhansel of France, in a BMW, was sixth on the day and is third overall. Spain’s Nani Roma, in a BMW, who won Saturday’s opening stage, lost 15 minutes on Sunday after suffering a double-roll and finished in
18th spot to be in eighth place overall. “We caught up with Stephane after 150km. We kept a modest pace for a while then it became very technical. That’s where we attacked before ending up in Carlos’ dust,” said Al-Attiyah. “From then on we kept up a good rhythm. Everything is going great. The conditions were pretty difficult - there was rain, fog, a bit of everything.” France’s David Fretigne on a Yamaha won the motorcycling stage while compatriot David Casteu of Sherco retained the overall lead after coming in second, 43 seconds adrift. Spain’s Marc Coma, the 2006 and 2009 winner, finished third but was then penalised 22 minutes for speeding, a sanction which relegated him to 14th overall. “It was a really tough special stage, very technical,” said Casteau. “The trail was very slippery and there are animals everywhere. I even crossed path with two cars going in the opposite direction.” Meanwhile, Germany’s Mirco
Schultis and Swiss teammate Ulrich Leardi, whose car accidentally ploughed into a group of spectators, killing a female fan, didn’t start Sunday’s second stage. The duo’s 4x4 vehicle came off the track and smashed into the spectators who are believed to have strayed from a designated safe-viewing area near the town of Rio Cuarto, around 800km from Buenos Aires on Saturday. Sonia Natalia Gallardo, 28, who suffered serious head, pelvic and stomach injuries in the incident, died in a Cordoba hospital while four others were hurt. Schultis and Leardi hit a group of fans who “were in a non-authorized sector, a private area”, said Julio Cesar Berrocal, the Cordoba police chief. “Three vehicles came around a corner and two of them tried to get round. But the dust cloud kicked up by them prevented the third (Schultis and Leardi’s 4x4) from seeing clearly and they came off the track.” — AFP
Rangers go 7-point clear GLASGOW: An equalizer from Lee McCulloch earned Rangers a 1-1 draw at Celtic yesterday to keep his side seven points ahead of its traditional rival at the top of the Scottish Premier League. After Celtic has wasted a series of chances at Parkhead, Scott McDonald headed home a cross from Aidan McGeady in the 79th minute to give the home side a deserved lead. But McCulloch headed home a corner just two minutes later and the result means defending champion Rangers remains a strong favorite to hold onto the title even though Celtic has a game in hand. Rangers has 44 points from 19 games and Celtic 37 from 18. But Celtic manager Tony Mowbray pointed out that Rangers made up a seven-point gap on his club from halfway through last season, and his team still had plenty of time, plus the bonus of a game in hand, to make up the difference. “Undoubtedly, it’s less of a task than they had last year,” he said. Rangers manager Walter Smith admitted his side was lucky not to lose. “Celtic played very well. It was a tough afternoon for a lot of our boys,” he said. “I felt in the second half we did a little bit
GLASGOW: Celtic’s French striker MarcAntoine Fortune (right) vies with Rangers’ Danny Wilson yesterday. — AFP better. We are delighted to have got a point from a game we should not have. We were not with the pace of the game at all.” Rangers
lost Nacho Novo with a leg injury with the game only 13 minutes old and Maurice Edu replaced him. Marc-Antoine Fortune had
the ball in the Rangers net in the 20th minute when he climbed above goalkeeper Allan McGregor to head home. But referee Steve Conroy harshly ruled he had fouled the goalkeeper and it didn’t count. Celtic midfielder Barry Robson hit the bar with a glancing header and McGeady missed two more chances, pulling a left footed shot across the face of the goal and then shooting over the bar. After the two goals, McGregor rescued Rangers by pushing a powerful shot from Georgios Samaras over the bar. Hibernian and Hearts drew 1-1 in yesterday’s other game, an Edinburgh derby which was marred by two red cards and crowd trouble. Gordon Smith gave Hearts the lead in the final minute of the first half and a Hearts fan was ejected after a flare was thrown as the players left the field. equalized for the home side in the 54th minute and, three minutes later, Hearts’ Ruben Palazuelos and Darren McCormack of Hibs were sent off for head-butting each other. Hibernian remained third with 33 points and Hearts stayed fifth with 24. — AP
Home specialists Mallorca go 4th Almeria, Racing climb out of relegation zone MADRID: Real Mallorca moved above Sevilla into fourth place with a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at the Ono Stadium as they maintained their perfect home record with an eighth successive home victory. Julio Alvarez scored the opener on 49 minutes to open the scoring before Aritz Aduriz netted his eighth goal of the season against old club Bilbao after 67 minutes. Mallorca are now in the final Champions League spot after a terrific start to the season and turn their attention to the Kings Cup as they travel to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday for the first leg of the last 16 tie. Earlier, Racing Santander and Almeria both climbed away from the relegation zone with wins. Santander beat Tenerife 2-0 with second-half goals from Gonzalo Colsa and Francisco “Xisco” Jimenez, lifting the team two places to 14th on 16 points. Almeria beat bottom-placed Xerez 1-0 with an 89th minute winner from Jose Ortiz Bernal in Juan Manuel Lillo’s first game in charge following the departure of Hugo Sanchez. The result leaves Almeria in 15th place on 16 points. Another struggling team, Malaga, appeared to have risen out of the bottom three, twice going ahead against Sporting Gijon with goals from Sergio “Duda” Barbosa and Weligton before the hosts equalized through Gregory Arnolin and a long-range shot by Roberto Canella. Malaga remains 18th with 13 points. In Mallorca’s Ono Estadi both teams struggled to create chances in a flat first half until Iraizoz had to make a superb save to stop Aduriz’s closerange shot just before the
PALMA DE MALLORCA: Mallorca’s Julio Alvarez (left) vies with Athletic de Bilbao’s Ustaritz Aldekoaotalora during their Spanish league football match yesterday at Ono Stadium in Palma de Mallorca. — AFP break. After going a goal down, Bilbao replaced Francisco Yeste with 17-year-old Iker Muniain. The attacking reshuffle nearly paid off when a flowing move by Bilbao drew a last-ditch header off the line by Jose Miguel Gonzalez from Fernando Llorente’s shot. In other games it was: Getafe 1,
Valladolid 0; and Zaragoza 0, Deportivo La Coruna 0. On Saturday, Villarreal held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw, Valencia beat Espanyol 1-0 and Atletico Madrid beat Sevilla 2-1. Barcelona leads the standings with 40 points. Real Madrid is next with 37, Valencia has 32 points and Sevilla 30. — Agencies