Category: Football (Soccer)

George Hirst finds inspiration from his father, Plymouth exploit Arne Slot’s choices and Marcus Rashford shows promise at his new club

Against Tottenham, the Aston Villa substitute Marcus Rashford looked, well, like the old Marcus Rashford. On the left, the Manchester United loanee embarrassed Pedro Porro with a nutmeg. Through the middle, a deft touch helped release Jacob Ramsey through on goal. Rashford flew down the right at searing pace (before a brilliant Archie Gray tackle limited further damage to Spurs). In half an hour, Rashford only had one fewer touches than Son Heung-min managed in 90 minutes. He looked fit and mentally eager (winning both the tackles he attempted), had a 93% pass accuracy, won four of six aerial duels and generally looked in synergy with his new teammates. Maybe he has a point to prove, or has had a boost of confidence from Villa’s fans and manager, or maybe Rashford is just playing in a quality, well-oiled side again, but Villa’s new No 9 looked – for 30 minutes at least – back to his best. Michael Butler

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The brilliant Morgan Rogers made one and scored one as Villa deservedly beat Spurs in an enjoyable cup tie

Jacob Ramsey scores after 58 seconds!

1 min Spurs kick off from right to left as we watch.

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Two goals in two first-half minutes, the first from João Gomes and second from Matheus Cunha, gave Wolves a comfortable win

I’m looking forward to seeing how Amario Oswald Gerardo Cozier-Duberry get on today. The 19-year-old winger was highly regarded when at Arsenal and might just provide the unpredictability Blackburn have been missing.

It’s also worth noting that Blackburn give debuts to recent arrivals Yuri Ribeiro and Emmanuel Dennis. The latter, on loan from Nottingham Forest, could prove to be a really smart acquisition.

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Arriving with no pre-season, the Italian appeared ‘left behind’, but could now be unleashed for the gruelling run-in

Andy Robertson remembers vomiting the first time he ever did the lactate test. He was 23 years old, had just arrived from Hull and considered himself in pretty good shape. Until, that is, he was made to run Jürgen Klopp’s sadistic pre-season gauntlet for the first time.

Basically, you do laps of the training pitch. The required pace gradually quickens, in the manner of a bleep test. Unlike in a bleep test, however, at regular intervals a member of Klopp’s medical staff will come over, puncture your ear and – ew – extract a sample of blood from it. High lactate levels indicate fatigue; too high and you’re done. Pretty soon Robertson was feeling queasy. He started gagging. Full discharge followed soon after. It may not surprise you to know that James Milner won the Melwood lactate test eight years running.

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Joe Willock scored twice as Newcastle edged Birmingham in an extraordinarily eventful game

6 min Pope, who isn’t the best with his feet, sprays a pass straight out of play.

4 min Iwata’s pass is intercepted by Willock, who surges 50 yards down the left and curls a dangerous cross – or rather, what would have been a dangerous cross if there was a Newcastle player in the area.

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Goodison Park commemorated Everton’s history in the FA Cup before kick-off, the Park End awash with banners related to the club’s five triumphs in the competition. Bournemouth consigned Goodison’s FA Cup story to history. Cup ties have been played at this famous old stadium for 132 years. There will never be another.

Andoni Iraola’s tireless, intelligent team tormented Everton once again. After the dramatic comeback here in August and last month’s win at the Vitality Stadium, the final act for Sean Dyche, Bournemouth made it a hat-trick of victories over Everton this season to advance into the fifth round. The final FA Cup act for Goodison centred on two first-half mistakes from James Tarkowski, who conceded a penalty scored by the impressive Antoine Semenyo and lost possession for Daniel Jebbison’s strike. David Moyes’s side reacted strongly in the second half but hit a post three times and had another attempt cleared off the line.

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Orient gave City a major scare, taking the lead in amazing circumstances before Pep Guardiola’s side fought back

2 min It’s a grim afternoon in East London: wet, windy and more than a little brisk.

1 min Peep peep! Orient kick off from right to left as we watch.

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• Visiting fans criticised by clubs after fourth-round tie
• Burnley knock out Southampton with Edwards goal

Leeds United and Millwall have condemned “vile” tragedy chants from the visiting fans during the Lions’ FA Cup victory at Elland Road.

Femi Azeez scored twice to send Millwall into the fifth round for the first time in six years but the match was overshadowed by events in the away end. Lions supporters were criticised by both clubs for referencing the murders of Leeds fans Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight in 2000 in Istanbul before a Uefa Cup semi-final against Galatasaray.

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New Plymouth Argyle manager on fleeing from genocide in Bosnia when he was nine and the ‘fantasy’ of managing against Liverpool in the FA Cup

As the waves crash against the harbour walls of West Hoe Pier, a Grade II-listed structure beneath Plymouth’s Grand Parade, Miron Muslic’s mind turns to the sights and sounds of spring 1992 in Bihac, Bosnia. He was a typical nine-year-old boy, happiest having a kickabout or watching He-Man, still on a high from getting a BMX for his birthday months earlier. “We became refugees overnight,” he says. “We faced a genocide in the heart of Europe. You fear for your life, you’re scared. It was just devastating. We had to grab everything we could put in a bag and move 700km [435 miles]. I don’t think I was really aware of what was going on. How could I be?”

Muslic, his younger sister, Marinela, and their parents, Camil and Mersada, fled to Austria via Hungary, eventually arriving in the scenic Pertisau am Achensee after a few days on the road via various modes of transport. “And from there, Austria became our second home,” he says.

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• Manchester United progress in FA Cup after controversy
• ‘It is half a metre, it is clear. The team don’t deserve this’

A furious Ruud van Nistelrooy said Leicester were not defeated “in ­Fergie time” but “in offside time” after Harry Maguire’s 93rd-minute winner for Manchester United was ruled legal and eliminated his side from the FA Cup. With no video assistant referee in the competition until the next round, Maguire’s winner was not chalked off despite the assistant referee being perfectly in line to see he had infringed.

“We are not defeated in Fergie time, we are defeated in offside time,” said Van Nistelrooy, referring to the extra minutes opponents claimed were allocated to United when needed under Sir Alex ­Ferguson, the Dutchman’s manager at Old ­Trafford. “It is a hard one to take because the game was decided on a mistake, that is clear. It is not a matter of VAR, where you have to look at ­millimetres. It is half a metre, it is clear. The team didn’t deserve to lose the game in this way. They fought, played well, and dominated the game for a long bit.”

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Manager has overseen three wins in a row and wants to go deep in FA Cup in final Goodison Park season

Everton played their first FA Cup tie at Goodison Park 132 years ago and on Saturday could play their last. What a miserable, defeatist outlook that is, although it is typical of the mindset David Moyes has tried to break since walking back through the door four weeks ago.

“Oh I’d love to get to the Cup final, I really would,” the Everton manager said on Friday. “We need to start bringing some good news back around Everton if we can and getting to the next round would be a good news story.”

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