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26 February 2006 Carling Cup Final - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Manchester United (1) 4 (Rooney 33, 61, Saha 55, Ronaldo 59) Wigan (0) 0 Man United made history as they recorded the largest winning margin in a League Cup Final since it went to one game in 1967 as they walloped Wigan 4-0 in Cardiff. United started the game with Louis Saha prefered up front instead of leading scorer Ruud Van Nistelrooy and it seemed to make little difference in the first half as they had the better of things. Both clusb had early chances as Henri Camara headed wide for Wigan whilst Wayne Rooney smashed his header against the bar, however Wigan's situation wasn't helped by an injury to keeper Mike Pollitt who pulled his hamstring doing nothing more than pick up the ball. He lasted until the fourteenth minute before being subbed close to tears and being replaced by John Filan. Rooney continued to cause problems as he set up Cristiano Ronaldo to miskick in front of goal, however he then showed his quality to put United ahead. Saha nodded on a long ball which saw Wigan pair Arjan De Zeeuw and Pascal Chimbonda get in each other's way, allowing Rooney to break clear and slot easily past Filan. Minutes later he could have doubled the lead but his half hit volley was easily saved. Wigan began the second half well but were hit by a stunning blitz of three goals in six minutes as United put the game out of sight. A sweeping move culminating in a cross from Gary Neville doubled the lead as Saha's first effort was superbly kept out at close range by Filan, however the rebound struck Saha on the knee and bobbled over the line. The third was down to an awful clearance by Stephane Henchoz that fell to Saha. He found Ronaldo on the right and the Portuguese star made no mistake with a firm shot. Two minutes later and the rout was complete as Wigan failed to clear a free kick from Ryan Giggs and after Rio Ferdinand nodded the ball goalwards, Rooney swept in his second. He almost became the first player to score a hat trick in the final but chipped wide with only Filan to beat. Wigan tried in vain for a consolation but it wasn't to be as Gary Teale was off target three times and Jimmy Bullard struck a late effort wide. Attendance : 66,866 Assists : Neville, n/a, Saha, Ferdinand West Brom 0 Middlesbrough 2 (Hasselbaink 17, Wallwork 44 og) Middlesbrough eased themselves away from the relegation zone with a victory over West Brom, who remain just three points clear of safety. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink did the damage, firstly with a clinical finish from the edge of the area having been sent clear by Yakubu and then with a free kick from similar range that took a massive deflection. The Baggies were reduced to ten men early in the second half when Nigel Quashie and George Boateng battled for the ball and as the Boro man fell to the floor, Quashie kicked him in the base of the back to earn an automatic red card. Attendance : 24,061 Red Card : Quashie 54 (West Brom) Assists : Yakubu, n/a Bolton 2 (Helguson 45 og, Nolan 68) Fulham 1 (Helguson 22) Heidar Helguson scored at both ends as Fulham's dismal away form continued with defeat at Bolton. It began well for the Londoners as Helguson thumped in a header from a Simon Elliott's free kick, however on the stroke of half time, Stelios Giannakpolous crossed for Bruno N'Gotty to power a header goalwards and although keeper Tony Warner did well to keep it out, the ball was inadvertently nodded back toward his own goal by Carlos Bocenegra. Helguson then blasted it into his own net as he desperately tried to keep the ball from bouncing in. If the equaliser was lucky, the winner was brilliant as Kevin Davies played in Kevin Nolan down the left. He then cut inside and used his strength to beat two defenders before firing in from a tight angle to move his side into sixth position. Attendance : 23,104 Assists : Elliott (fk), n/a, n/a Liverpool 1 (Kewell 40) Manchester City 0 Liverpool go level on points with second placed Man United after a narrow win against ten man Man City at Anfield. Liverpool had by far the better of the first half but only took the lead just before half time when Steven Gerrard collected the ball in midfield and sent Harry Kewell away down the left channel. He appeared to take one touch too many as he entered the penalty area but still shot across David James and inside the far post. City's cause shouldn't have been helped when Joey Barton was shown a second yellow card for a studs first tackle into the shin of Sami Hyypia early in the second half, however it seemed to spur City on and the had three chances within the next ten minutes as Jose Reina saved at close range from Bradley Wright-Phillips and then brilliantly from a curling effort by Trevor Sinclair. Georgios Samaras had the best chance though as he sliced wide whilst clean through. Peter Crouch could have had a hat trick for Liverpool at the other end, his closest effort being a thunderous shot that hit the bar. Attendance : 23,104 Red Card : Barton 52 (Manchester City) Assist : Gerrard 25 February 2006 Chelsea 2 (Lampard 65, Robben 78) Portsmouth 0 Chelsea edged closer to retaining their title after two second half goals gave them victory against struggling Portsmouth. The took over an hour to break through but eventually the goal came as Didier Drogba's square pass was dummied by Eidur Gudjohnsen and fired in from the edge of the area by Frank Lampard. The win was clinched when Gudjohnsen's lob forward found Arjen Robben to fire in. Attendance : 42,254 Assists : Drogba, Gudjohnsen Charlton 0 Aston Villa 0 Not one for the video collection as Charlton and Villa battled out a drab goalless draw at The Valley. Attendance : 26,594 Assist : n/a Blackburn 1 (Gamst Pedersen 18) Arsenal 0 Blackburn moved above Arsenal into fifth place after beating the Gunners at Ewood Park. The winning goal came after a superb run down the right by Craig Bellamy and having got to the dead ball line, his cut back was crashed into the net at the near post by Morten Gamst Pedersen, however he injured himself scoring the goal and was substituted shortly afterwards. Arsenal threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Rovers in the second half but couldn't break through and slumped to their tenth defeat of the season. Arsenal's dismal away form means that they are in serious danger of not qualifying for Europe next season and their best hope could well be to do a Liverpool and win the Champions League. Attendance : 22,504 Assist : Bellamy Birmingham 1 (Heksey 39) Sunderland 0 Birmingham moved to within three points of relegation safety after a narrow win against bottom club Sunderland who remain on a one-way trip back to the Championship. The only goal came from a Jermaine Pennant free kick floated to the far post and headed in powerfully by Emile Heskey. Attendance : 29,257 Assist : Pennant (fk) Newcastle 2 (Solano 64, 76) Everton 0 Three wins in four now for Newcastle since Graeme Souness was sacked as Everton became the latest club to go home from St James pointless. Both goals came in the second half from Nol Solano, the first a close range tap in after an excellent run and cross from Charles N'Zogbia. The second was a beauty and was the culmination of a superb passing movement as Lee Bowyer found Solano on the edge of the area and his shot with the outside of his foot curled inside the far post. Attendance : 51,916 Assists : N'Zogbia, Bowyer 19 February 2006 Tottenham (1) 2 (Mido 23, Defoe 68) Wigan (1) 2 (Johansson 10, 67) Spurs twice came from behind to earn a point against Wigan as two of the Premiership's European hopefuls earned a point each in this weekend's only league fixture. The visitors took a surprise lead when a long ball forward was nodded on by Paul Scharner for Andreas Johansson to run onto and score via the keeper and the post. He may have been offside as the ball was helped on, however he had the benefit of the doubt from the officials and toof full advantage. Spurs should have equalised minutes later when Jermain Defoe was gifted a chance, however his drilled effort was saved by the feet of keper Mike Pollitt but they did level matters when returning striker Ahmed Mido got a touch onto Paul Stalteri's deflected cross and it flew in at the far post. He almost again shortly afterwards, however his firm header went inches wide with Pollitt rooted to the spot. After the interval, Spurs struggled to get started and after Henri Camara was off target twice for Wigan, he was the middle man in a neat one two with Johansson, allowing the Swedish star to drill in from eight yards. Straight from the kick off, Spurs levelled again as a long ball forward was nodded on by Mido and Defoe was on hand to clip the ball past the keeper. Both clubs went for broke late on with Wigan coming the closest when Camara's header was superbly saved by keeper Paul Robinson. Attendance : 35,676 Assists : Scharner, Stalteri, Camara, Mido Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L/ Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |