The FA Cup third spherical embarked upon its conventional burst of twists and turns in one other enthralling day of cup soccer on Sunday.
Leeds United prevented an upset with a stoppage-time equaliser towards Cardiff Metropolis, forcing a replay on the finish of a breathless tie. The late drama wasn’t solely reserved for Wales as Walsall and Stockport County exchanged blows within the dying embers of an all-League Two affair. Stoke Metropolis and Derby County loved much more leisurely routes into the fourth spherical.
This is a rundown of how occasions unfolded on Sunday.
The shock of the spherical occurred at Villa Park, the place League Two Stevenage produced some late heroics to dump Premier League Aston Villa out of the cup.
All of it appeared prefer it was going properly for Villa, who led courtesy of a Morgan Sanson penalty. Nonetheless, issues modified dramatically following Leander Dendoncker’s purple card with simply 5 minutes to go. His problem gave away a penalty, which Jamie Reid transformed. Issues obtained a complete lot worse for Villa in harm time when Dean Campbell hit the winner.
The Cities of Bristol and Swansea are separated by six factors and 4 locations within the Championship desk however there was nothing to divide them after 90 minutes at Ashton Gate on Sunday lunchtime.
Joel Piroe was the beneficiary of an terrible lapse in focus from Robert Atkinson, tucking in a Fifteenth-minute opener. Antoine Semenyo’s second-half equaliser owed loads to an opposition error as properly, nodding a tame header between Steven-Andreas Benda’s weak wrists to power a replay later this month.
Derby County prolonged their unbeaten file to 16 matches in regular time throughout all competitions with a 3-0 victory at residence to Barnsley, protecting a fifth consecutive clear sheet within the course of.
Barnsley solely path their hosts by one level within the League One promotion locations and stored the sport goalless till James Collins’ penalty in first-half stoppage time. Tom Barkhuizen thumped his manner onto the scoresheet after an hour earlier than Jason Knight wrapped up a convincing triumph.
Beneath Jesse Marsch, Leeds are many issues; energetic, porous, ill-disciplined and unwaveringly watchable.
Cardiff had scored one purpose throughout their earlier 4 Championship matches however managed two via Jaden Philogene-Bidace and Sheyi Ojo within the opening 31 minutes of an exhilarating cup tie.
Marsch started the match with a fairly robust aspect however was compelled to make a triple substitution as Leeds continued to path 2-0 after an hour. Rodrigo was a type of that got here off the bench, halving the deficit inside 5 minutes of his arrival with a pointy header.
The Spain worldwide squandered the possibility to degree the match with ten minutes to play, watching Jak Alnwick beat away his penalty. Joel Bagan was despatched off for his position in conceding the spot-kick, forcing the ten-man hosts deeper and deeper. Sonny Perkins produced a poacher’s end within the 93rd minute as Cardiff’s resolve finally buckled, reserving a replay at Elland Highway.
The percentages have been all the time stacked towards League Two strugglers Hartlepool United as they hosted second-tier aspect Stoke Metropolis, 52 locations forward of them within the soccer pyramid. Nonetheless, Swimming pools did not precisely aide their plight by scoring a pair of personal objectives on the Swimsuit Direct Stadium.
Jacob Brown discovered the web he was really aiming for between Euan Murray and Rollin Menayese’s blunders both aspect of the interval as Stoke eased in direction of their first post-Christmas victory.
Norwich weren’t handled to a brand new supervisor bounce as David Wagner oversaw a 1-0 residence defeat to Blackburn Rovers on his debut within the Carrow Highway dugout.
Jon Dahl Tomasson has been in control of Blackburn for the reason that summer time, profitable his first 4 matches on the helm because the 1996 Premier League champions launch a real bid to return to the highest flight. Jack Vale’s first-half purpose ensured the staff sitting third within the Championship (eight locations above Norwich) have a fourth-round tie to juggle alongside their promotion push.
Ten days after dropping 2-0 at residence to Stockport County, Walsall knocked the Hatters out of the FA Cup with a Ninety fifth-minute penalty from Andy Williams.
Michael Flynn famously took Newport County to the fifth spherical of the cup in 2019 and is one step nearer to repeating the feat with Walsall after Sunday’s win. Danny Johnson gave the guests a second-half lead earlier than Paddy Madden got here off the bench to equalise for the hosts within the 88th minute.
But, Stockport’s saviour slipped into villain territory, as Madden caught Liam Kinsella with a wild boot in his personal field deep into stoppage time. Williams held his nerve to transform from 12 yards, making certain that Walsall’s solely defeat since mid-October was the league fixture towards Stockport final month.