Carling Cup

Tuesday.
As with all competitions, as the Carling cup nears its conclusion there is less and less games and you'd be justified in thinking this would mean less and less entertainment. That assumption would be wrong based on Tuesdays games which saw Arsenal take on Wigan at the Emirates and West Ham take on Man Utd at Upton Park.

The better of these two games was undoubtedly at Upton Park where the holders played an understrength team that was missing the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic, Scholes, Rooney and 5 goal hero at the weekend Dimitar Berbatov when manager Alex Ferguson made 10 changes from the team that beat Blackburn 7-1. The hosts looked to make the most of this fact and it wasn't long before they had the ball in the net.

West Ham celebrate scoring in the snow.

Victor Obinna's curling shot deflected off Jonathan Spector and went in but was ruled out for offside. The linesman had made the correct decision, but the Hammers were incensed.

The ruled out goal seemed to galvanise West Ham and in the 22nd minute the same two players combined as Obinna's chipped cross was met by Spector who got in front of Fletcher to head in his first goal in English football and it was against his former club too. Spector then made a long run across the middle of the field before advancing in to the box where he passed to Victor Obinna whose attempted shot was blocked. The ball then fell just in front of Fabio da Silva whose timely slip allowed Spector, who had continued his run, to get back on the ball where he calmly slotted the ball past Kuszczak from close range for his and West Ham's second goal before the break.

After the break there was more life to the Man Utd attack and they created a few more chances but the revival was ended as Victor Obinna crossed to find Carlton Cole who got in front of Evans and the English center forward made the most of it to put the Hammers 3-0 up thanks to a close range header. The same duo combined again as they heaped yet more misery on to United when Obinna played the ball in to Cole's feet and then twister and turned to get round Evans again before this time sliding the ball into the bottom corner for the fourth in what was the Hammers biggest win over Man Utd in years and secured them a place in the semi finals.

The players watch as Alcaraz puts the ball into his own net.

In the other game Arsenal took on an out of form Wigan team at the Emirates and the result went as expected with Arsenal winning but they hardly had to get out of second gear to beat Roberto Martinez's team in the snowy conditions. Victor Moses looked to be seriously injured when he went off and he had been the only outlet for a Wigan team who offered little all game going forward after that but looked OK in defence, and it was only a 42nd minute own goal by Antolin Alcaraz that broke the deadlock. Arsenal got their second when Bendtner slid in to meet Vela's excellent low cross from the left hand side to convert at the far post in the 67th minute. Arsenal where comfortably in control of the game after that and they had the most of the possession and the territory until the end.

Wednesday.
The games on Wednesday saw a local derby match in the second city as Birmingham took on Aston Villa at St. Andrews in the snow and the other match saw Ipswich playing West Brom at Portman Road with the former providing, as expected, the better game.

Seb Larsson celebrates scoring a penalty
for Birmingham against local rivalsVilla.

The game at St. Andrews started at a fast pace with both sides having speculative shots from a long way out but with Villa having much more of the ball however after just 12 minutes James Collins let the ball bounce and that allowed Cameron Jerome to win the ball and he then played it in to Lee Bowyer just inside the box and Bowyer was taken down by the Villa captain Richard Dunne for a penalty. Seb Larsson stepped up to take the spot kick and sent Villa keeper Brad Friedel the wrong way to the delight of the Birmingham fans at St. Andrews. Birmingham then had a chance to increase their lead but Zigic wanted too much time to bring the ball under control and then the chance to shoot had gone. They did however get the ball into the Villa goal just minutes later as Friedel fumbled a Zigic shot from a corner and the ball went just over the line before he clawed it back again. With the Birmingham players claiming the goal the linesman halted the celebrations by raising his flag for offside as Liam Ridgewell was on the line when the ball came to Friedel but he didn't appear to be interfering with play. As always seems to happen in all these situations, after this controversial incident, Villa managed to go straight up the other end and get an equaliser. The goal wasn't without its own controversy as when when Hogg played it to Gabby Agbonlahor, who turned the defender and drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner, he was marginally offside however the linesman didn't seem to notice this so the goal was allowed to stand. Birmingham had another chance to take the lead as Cameron Jerome was clean through with only the keeper to beat but saw his chipped shot drift just wide of the left hand post and the teams went in level at the break.
In the early stages of the second half both goal keepers where called in to action as they kept their teams level during more end to end football that kept the fans well entertained. More great saves by both keepers and a clearance of the line kept the game level until the 84th minute when Jerome's cut back found Zigic whose shot was deflected up in the air by Luke Young and it looped in to the top corner and over the flailing arm of Friedel in what was to be the last real attempt and was probably against the run of play. Birmingham manged to hold on during the 5 minutes of added time to clinch a semi final place and the Birmingham fans showed their delight by invading the pitch at the final whistle. This then left a sour taste on the match as they unfairly taunted the Villa fans who reacted by throwing various items, including seats and a flare, at the Birmingham fans who where now just meters away with only a single line of police separating the two sets of supporters. The seats and the flare where thrown back and forward over the line of police between the fans but the police finally reclaimed control after 10 minutes and the Birmingham fans will go home the happier after they made it into the next round.

In the other game West Brom made nine changes to the team that beat Everton 4-1 at Goodison on Saturday for the trip to Ipswich. The first half produced no goals and little in terms of entertainment other than a poor shot by Jason Scotland and a turned down penalty claim for Ipswich while West Brom looked dangerous on the counter attack. It took until the 70th minute to before there was a goal when Carlos Edwards was bundled over by Graham Dorrans in the area and Ipswich were awarded a spot-kick that Grant Leadbitter stepped up to take, and the midfielder kept his cool and although Myhill went the right way he couldn't get any contact on the ball as it was planted firmly in the bottom left-hand corner. West Brom ended the game the better side as Scotland's close range strike hit Priskin on the line, Cox saw his shot deflected over and Murphy saved well from Ibanez at point-blank range which left Ipswich to claim the semi final place.

Semi-final draw:
Ipswich v Arsenal
West Ham v Birmingham