Mon, Mar 10, 2008 page20

• THE FA CUP: Chelsea, Man United crash out of FA Cu

  RED DEVILS FEELING BLUE Alex Ferguson was fuming after Portsmouth earned their first win at Old Trafford for more than half a century and slammed the referee

  • AP
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  Kayode Odejayi headed in the winner and Barnsley knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory to reach the semi-final on Saturday, three weeks after the Tykes ousted Liverpool.

  After Portsmouth won 1-0 at Manchester United, Odejayi's 66th minute winner made sure that none of the traditional big four of English soccer will be in the last four. Arsenal were beaten 4-0 by Manchester United in the previous round.

  Barnsley, who won 2-1 at Liverpool to reach the quarter-final, are only four points above the relegation zone in the League Championship and in danger of going down to League One.

  "I can't believe it. We went to Anfield and we put on a show and came away with a result and everybody thought we couldn't do it again," said Barnsley manager Simon Davey. "We had a game plan that obviously worked. I'm speechless at the moment. I can't believe we've really done it. We're in the semi-final of the cup, I've never been to Wembley."

  A penalty kick from Sulley Muntari gave Portsmouth victory over Manchester United after the Red Devils had one goalkeeper injured and another sent off.

  Muntari fired the 78th-minute penalty past Rio Ferdinand. The center-back went in goal after substitute goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, who went on for the injured Edwin van der Sar at half-time, was sent off for hauling down Milan Baros.

  The drama came after United missed enough chances to be three goals ahead with top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo the main culprit.

  Portsmouth's victory at Old Trafford was their first there since 1957 but the performance of referee Martin Atkinson, who refused to award the home team an early penalty when Sylvain Distin barged Ronaldo over, incensed United manager Alex Ferguson.

  "It's absolutely ridiculous," Ferguson said. "Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week."

  "He's not doing his job properly and he needs to be assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, players are assessed, referees should be assessed properly by the right people. That performance today should not be accepted by our game," Ferguson said.

  Pompey had lost their previous seven visits to Old Trafford.

  Kuszczak was sent off for bringing down Baros as he went for an open goal. With Van der Sar already off, that meant United did not have another goalkeeper to replace him so Ferdinand went between the posts.

  He was unable to stop Muntari's expertly taken low spot kick, however, even though he dived the right way.

  In Premier League games, Liverpool outplayed Newcastle 3-0 to move within two points of third place Chelsea, Reading climbed out of the relegation zone and up to 13th with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City and Blackburn were held 1-1 at home by Fulham.

  Jermaine Pennant and Fernando Torres scored two goals in three minutes just before half time in Liverpool's victory over Newcastle and Steven Gerrard added a third in the 51st.

  The victory for Rafa Benitez' team strengthens their fourth place and now the Reds trail Chelsea by two points although the Blues have two games in hand.
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