Saturdays Football FA Cup

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FA Cup results: Gillingham shock Cardiff, Man United and Chelsea avoid upsets (January 05, 2019)

A review of Saturday's FA Cup third round action...

Bluebirds stunned in Kent

Elliott List smashed home a late winner as League One strugglers Gillingham produced an FA Cup third round shock by dumping out Cardiff with a 1-0 win.

Midfielder List buried his finish past Bluebirds goalkeeper Alex Smithies with nine minutes remaining at Priestfield to upset the Premier League visitors.

Cardiff had been the better side in Kent but were unable to make a breakthrough as they twice hit the woodwork in the second period and squandered numerous other chances.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing went closest for the visitors when he curled against the crossbar 20 minutes from time, while Gills defender Gabriel Zakuani earlier diverted the ball against his team's right post.

With top-flight survival the priority, it looked like they would have to be content with an unwanted replay in south Wales before List emphatically intervened.

Chelsea avoid round three slip up as Fab appears to bid farewell

Alvaro Morata scored twice as FA Cup holders Chelsea advanced with a 2-0 third-round win over Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge.

Cesc Fabregas, on potentially his farewell appearance, had a penalty saved after 30 minutes, before another player whose future has been debated, Callum Hudson-Odoi, twice created goals for Morata.

Morata has also been linked with a move and the Spain striker demonstrated his infuriating mix of woeful misses and clinical finishing as the Blues progressed.

Chelsea had not been eliminated in the third round since 1997-98 and reached the final in the last two seasons, winning last May in Antonio Conte's last match as head coach.

He was replaced in July by Maurizio Sarri, who was experiencing the competition for the first time.

More woes for Huddersfield after crashing out of the FA Cup

Bristol City added to Huddersfield's Premier League troubles by knocking them out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at Ashton Gate.

A third-round tie low on quality was settled by Josh Brownhill's 72nd-minute strike, the midfielder dispatching his fourth goal of the season after twisting and turning in a congested penalty area.

Until then, after a largely forgettable first half, Huddersfield had looked the more likely winners with half-time substitutes Alex Pritchard and Steve Mounie adding pace and purpose to their attacks.

But Huddersfield are bottom of the Premier League for a reason, they have scored only 13 times in 21 top-flight games and have little, if any, confidence in front of goal.

Against Bristol City, opponents unbeaten in eight Sky Bet Championship games, and increasingly finding form as the season unfolds, it was to prove their undoing.

Five successive wins for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's winning start to life at the Manchester United helm continued but the FA Cup third-round triumph against embattled Reading was the caretaker manager's most unconvincing performance to date.

United racked up their fifth straight victory since the Norwegian replaced Jose Mourinho, although the Royals provided a test that belied their place five points adrift of safety in the Championship.

Reading arrived at Old Trafford without a win in their previous 10 matches but proved a handful on an afternoon that saw United emerge 2-0 victors thanks to Juan Mata's penalty - after a lengthy video assistant referee delay - and a cool Romelu Lukaku strike.

Kee inspires Accrington to win over Ipswich

Billy Kee scored the winner as Accrington knocked out Championship strugglers Ipswich with a 1-0 win which extends Town's run without an FA Cup win to 13 games.

Striker Kee headed home the winner in the 76th minute after Sean McConville's free-kick was headed back across goal by Ben Richards-Everton for the unmarked Kee to score.

Derby earn Saints replay

Tom Lawrence's stunner shocked Southampton as Derby hit back from 2-0 down to force an FA Cup replay.

The winger struck from 25 yards just three minutes after Jack Marriott had pulled a goal back at Pride Park to earn a 2-2 draw.

Richard Keogh deflected in Nathan Redmond's early strike before Redmond's brilliant second-half effort put the visitors in cruise control.

The Sky Bet Championship Rams hit back, though, to show their Premier League pedigree as they chase promotion.

But Marriott blew a golden chance to win it in stoppage time when he blazed over.

Eventful FA Cup bow for Unai Emery with Arsenal

A journey that began with a Blackpool protester sitting on top of their bus ended with Arsenal comfortably booking their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Joe Willock, one of two teenagers in the Gunners' starting line-up, scored twice in the first half and Alex Iwobi added a third in the 82nd minute to secure a 3-0 victory.

Most of the drama happened two-and-a-half hours before the match at the Marriott Hotel in Preston, where Arsenal's players found they were unable to set off for Bloomfield Road. A large number of Blackpool fans have been trying to force Owen Oyston to sell the club for several years, to no avail, and their most high-profile match of the season offered an opportunity to draw wider attention.

The protester, who came down after 40 minutes, was arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Trade Union Act and remained in police custody at kick-off. The incident did not delay the match, with Arsenal finding a replacement vehicle before being escorted into the ground via a back entrance, with more protesting fans outside the front.

In the eight seasons since their one campaign in the Premier League, Blackpool have sunk all the way to the bottom tier before managing one step back up last season.

Seagulls fly into round four

Anthony Knockaert's crisp strike helped Brighton cruise past Bournemouth 3-1 and into the FA Cup fourth round for the ninth time in 10 seasons.

Yves Bissouma and Florin Andone wrapped up the Seagulls' comfortable Dean Court victory, with both sides making sweeping changes from midweek Premier League exertions.

Knockaert's first goal in 12 games set Brighton en route to another fourth-round tie, with Bissouma bagging his maiden Seagulls strike and Andone his third of the campaign.

Marc Pugh's classy strike briefly had Bournemouth thinking of a second-half comeback, with the midfielder notching his first Cherries goal since August 2017.

But when Andone nodded in after a messy Brighton corner, the game was up.
Everton hold off Lincoln

Everton manager Marco Silva got a much-needed win in the FA Cup but it was a far from comfortable 2-1 victory against League Two leaders Lincoln.

Ademola Lookman, with his first goal in 394 days, and Bernard put the hosts ahead inside 14 minutes but they struggled once Michael Bostwick pulled one back.

The 58-place gap between the two sides was barely evident in the hour's football which followed as an Everton team lacking in confidence after just one win in their previous eight matches struggled to find the necessary invention to make the game safe.

Luton earn third-round replay

Luton will be in the FA Cup fourth round draw for the first time since 2013 after earning a goalless draw away to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

The Hatters defended well in the face of Wednesday pressure, who themselves snatched at chances and lacked a clinical nature in front of goal, resulting in a third successive draw for the home side.
Norwich knocked out by Pompey

Portsmouth substitute Andre Green struck deep into injury time to earn the League One leaders a dramatic 1-0 FA Cup third-round win over Championship high-flyers Norwich at Carrow Road.

Green had two bites of the cherry from just inside the box after Pompey had caught the hosts on the break and took the second one to sink a home side who had to play 75 minutes with just 10 men after the early dismissal of Grant Hanley.

The Canaries were unlucky not to take the game to a replay after turning in a brave display as their opponents made it into the hat for the fourth-round draw.

Palace get there against 10-man Grimsby...

Crystal Palace escaped embarrassment after Jordan Ayew produced a late winner to end 10-man Grimsby's defiance in their FA Cup third-round tie at Selhurst Park.

Ayew nodded home Jeffrey Schlupp's free-kick in the 87th minute as the Premier League club finally broke the deadlock amid relentless one-way traffic.

Grimsby defended for virtually the entire game after Andrew Fox was shown a red card in the second minute for a studs up tackle on Andros Townsend that referee Martin Atkinson viewed as a booking only to be over-ruled by the VAR.

Missing their three front line central-backs through injury and suspension, the Sky Bet League Two team would have been forgiven for folding but instead they showed remarkable resilience.

Eventful first half for Arnautovic as Hammers progress

Marko Arnautovic helped fire West Ham into the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-0 win over Birmingham.

But the Austrian forward was far from happy at being substituted after only 20 minutes at the London Stadium.

Andy Carroll, who had replaced Arnautovic, eventually sealed West Ham's passage with his first goal of the season in stoppage time.

It had taken less than two minutes for Arnautovic to give the hosts the lead, reacting quickest to nod home after Angelo Ogbonna's header was parried by Blues keeper Lee Camp.

However, Arnautovic's afternoon ended prematurely soon after when his number went up on the electronic substitutes' board.

Arnautovic may have picked up a slight knock, but he clearly felt it was not going to be a problem and wanted to continue.

However, with Arsenal the visitors next weekend, Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini was taking no chances with his star man, who had only just returned from a month out injured.

In bizarre scenes, Arnautovic continually shrugged 'why' as he trudged off, had a lively discussion with Pellegrini on the touchline and stopped in front of the bench to question the medical team before disappearing down the tunnel.