Arsenal staged a stunning League Cup fightback at Reading after trailing 4-0 in the first half on Tuesday, advancing to the quarter-finals with a 7-5 extra-time victory after Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick.
Walcott netted in stoppage-time in both halves and then in the last minute of extra-time as well in a game that always seemed to offer up a new twist.
“It was an unbelievable game. I’m absolutely knackered now,” Walcott said. “We’ve scored seven goals away from home — it was great going forward. Maybe defensively it wasn’t great at times, but we’re in the draw and that’s what matters.”
Photo: Reuters
Arsenal’s performance in the first half was so poor that some Gunners fans left the stadium after the team conceded a fourth goal in the 37th minute, as Reading dominated against their Premier League rivals, but after Walcott pulled one back just before halftime, he took the game into extra-time with a last-gasp equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage-time.
Substitute Olivier Giroud had netted the second for Arsenal and Laurent Koscielny, who earlier scored an own-goal, made it 4-3 in the 89th minute.
Marouane Chamakh put Arsenal ahead for the first time in extra-time with his first goal in almost a year, but Reading drew level again when Pavel Pogrebnyak made it 5-5 with four minutes to go.
Photo: Reuters
Walcott then completed his hat-trick by slotting in a rebound from Andrei Arshavin’s effort and Chamakh lobbed goalkeeper Adam Federici in the closing exchanges to ensure Arsenal advanced.
“You always see new things in our game, that’s why it’s never boring,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “It was a tennis match today. They had a fantastic start, we were not sharp, and it was 4-0 and could have been one or two more ... You cannot play for Arsenal and give up.”
Reading manager Brian McDermott was aggrieved that Walcott’s goal that took the game into extra-time came more than five minutes into stoppage-time when only four had been signaled by the fourth official.
“If it’s four minutes, you don’t mind another 30 seconds, but not another two minutes,” McDermott said. “I was waiting for him to blow his whistle, but he’ll have his reasons ... What happened tonight was extraordinary.”
On a thrilling night in English soccer’s second-tier knockout competition, three Premier League clubs — Southampton, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic — were beaten by lower-league opposition.
The biggest shock came at Wigan where fourth-tier club Bradford City won a penalty shootout 4-2 after the match ended 0-0.
Premier League strugglers Southampton exited after losing 3-0 to Leeds United of the second-tier Championship.
Goals from Michael Tonge and El-Hadji Diouf, as well as Luciano Becchio’s penalty kick, steered Leeds into the quarter-finals for the first time since 1996.
“We didn’t perform anywhere near what’s expected of a Southampton Football Club team,” said Southampton manager Nigel Adkins, who made 11 changes from the side that lost to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“Forty-eight hours ago we had a high-intensity game and I made the relevant changes. I take full responsibility,” he said. “We wanted to play tomorrow, but the powers that be wanted it to be tonight, but we gave the players who have not been in the team the chance to show what they could do and they did not take it.”
Middlesbrough advanced after Scott McDonald’s goal secured a 1-0 victory at northeast rivals Sunderland.
“It was really disappointing,” Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill said. “We started off brightly in the game, but Middlesbrough forced their way into the game and in truth we didn’t create enough.”
It was a nervy night for Aston Villa, who only eliminated third-tier club Swindon Town 3-2 after Christian Benteke’s 90th-minute goal.
Villa appeared to be cruising to victory after goals from Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor before halftime, but Swindon substitute Miles Storey scored twice after the break to make it 2-2, before Benteke turned in a cross from Eric Lichaj.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set