Carlton Cole held off defender Arjen de Zeeuw and scored the winner in injury time to give West Ham a spot in the League Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory at Coventry on Tuesday.
Jay Tabb scored with a header to put Coventry in the lead in the 68th minute. Marcus Hall scored an own-goal in the 71st minute to equalize while trying to defend a shot from West Ham striker Luis Boa Morte.
"The boys worked so hard and dug in right to the end," Cole said. "I don't care if we didn't deserve it. As long as we are through to the quarter-finals that's all that counts."
Coventry, a League Championship side, defeated Manchester United in the previous round.
Bundesliga sides Hertha Berlin and Bochum were upset in the second round of the German Cup, both eliminated by lower-division opposition.
Hertha lost 2-0 at third-division Wuppertal, which scored both goals after Hertha's defender Josip Simunic was sent off in the 75th minute. Wuppertal reached the third round for the first time in 44 years.
Bochum also played with 10 men for more than hour after the expulsion of Christoph Dabrowski and lost 3-2 at second-division Alemannia Aachen. Bochum have not won in nine games.
In other games, it was: Schalke 2, Hannover 0 (extra time); Wolfsburg 1, Karlsruhe 0; Hansa Rostock 6, Kickers Offenbach 0; Werder Bremen (II) 2, FC St. Pauli 2 (Werder won 4-2 on penalties).
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
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