The pick of the weekend’s FA Cup third round ties was played out at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Sunday where Manchester United progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup at the expense of their city rivals.
United announced a new signing of sorts just before the game when they named the recently-retired Paul Scholes as a substitute having re-signed the 37 year-old until the end of the season.
Wayne Rooney scored the first of United’s three first-half goals with a powerful header before City captain Vincent Kompany was sent off in dubious circumstances for a two-footed tackle on Nani.
City mounted a valiant comeback after the break, though, and goals from Aleksandr Kolarov and Sergio Aguero set up a tense final quarter but United held on to register a 3-2 victory and they were rewarded with a fourth-round tie away at Liverpool, whose 5-1 win over Oldham on Friday evening was not without controversy.
Oldham’s Tom Adeyemi was visibly distressed after being the victim of racist abuse from a small section of Liverpool fans in the closing minutes of the game. A 20 year-old man from Aintree has been bailed following his arrest on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Chelsea knocked four second-half goals past Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham strolled past Cheltenham 3-0 and Everton overcame Tamworth 2-0.
Macclesfield Town and MK Dons came closest to embarrassing Premier League opposition but both had to settle for a replay against Bolton and QPR respectively, having led for periods.
After the result against MK Dons, QPR manager Neil Warnock was sacked having failed to muster a win in nine games. Mark Hughes is the bookies favourite to replace him.
England’s cricketers struggled during the first two days of their warm-up match against an ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI in Dubai. After bowling out their opposition for 281 on Saturday, Alastair Cook (76) was the only English batsman to register a half-century.
The visiting side’s bowling performance was slightly better and Stuart Broad impressed, taking 2-15 from nine overs at the beginning of the ICC side’s second innings.
Harlequins’ lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership was cut to three points as Saracens capitalised on the league-leaders’ 24-3 slip-up away at Northampton on Friday evening with a 26-19 win at home to Bath.
Martin “Wolfie” Adams’ tilt at a record-equalling third-straight BDO World Dart Championship got off to a good start with a straightforward 3-0 win over Scott Mitchell. Former champion John Walton lost 3-1 to Martin Atkins.
