Football

Carabao Cup round-up: Blackburn stun West Ham on penalties as Southampton survive Sheff Weds scare and Wolves edge Leeds

Name: Flying Eze
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Flying Eze
November 9, 2022

THE Carabao Cup third round threw up some astonishing results with three Premier League giants falling to shock defeats.

Manchester City, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Wolves all cruised through to the fourth stage with comfortable victories over Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Leeds respectively.

While Southampton, Blackburn, Newcastle and Liverpool edged through on penalties.

Here’s what unfolded on a night that some clubs will be keen to forget…

WEST HAM 2 BLACKBURN 2 (9-10 on pens)

By Jordan Davies

Ogbonna missed a penalty in the shootout

ANGELO OGBONNAâS penalty shoot-out miss saw woeful West Ham crash out of the Carabao Cup against Blackburnâs B-team.

Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson made 11 changes ahead of their top of the table Championship clash with rivals Burnley on Sunday.

They still managed to take the lead after six minutes through 21-year-old Jack Vale before Pablo Fornals first half equaliser and Antonioâs strike 12 minutes from time.

Ben Brereton Diaz came off the bench to level in the 88th minute, and after 19 perfect penalties, veteran defender Ogbonna struck the bar with his 12-yard effort.

David Moyes also switched up the Hammersâ entire XI. Declan Rice and Thilo Kehrer were left out of the squad ahead of their impending England and Germany World Cup call-ups.

Summer signing Nayef Aguerd made just his third West Ham start in a back three, but almost gifted Blackburn the lead inside three minutes.

The Moroccan internationalâs back-pass was under-hit and Dilan Markanday was through on goal only for Alphonse Areola â fresh from his France selection â to make a crucial save.

Rovers got their goal three minutes later as Vale finished through the legs of Areola, sparking loud boos from the home support.

Antonio and Fornals wasted several chances before linking up to level the scores, the latter firing a loose ball past Aynsley Pears.

West Ham still looked shaky as Aguerd produced a last-gasp block on the line to deny Markanday a second after more defensive calamities.

Moyesâ men upped the ante in the second half and it eventually paid off after Antonioâs half-volley looked to have secured a fourth round spot in normal time but for a beauty from Brereton Diaz.

WOLVES 1 LEEDS 0

By Graham Hill

BOUBACAR Traore came off the bench to score a spectacular late Wolves winner.

Traore had only been on the field for 13 minutes when he collected a cross from another sub Daniel Podence – and swept the ball home from 20 yards out for his first Wolves goal.

They broke the deadlock with just five minutes to go – as the on-loan Metz midfielder sealed the tie.

New Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui does not officially start work until next Monday – but six of his backroom staff were at Molineux tonight and introduced themselves to the players.

Leeds boss Jesse Marsch made 10 changes for the tie – and the only survivor from the weekend Jack Harrison almost opened the scoring after three minutes.

His free-kick deflected off the wall and Wolves keeper Matija Sarkic pushed it out for a corner.

Sarkic made another key stop two minutes later when he saved a close range header by Leo Hjelde – then recovered to keep ball out in six yard box scramble.

But keeper Joel Robles – one of four Leeds debutants – produced a superb save of his own after 58 minutes.

Connor Roman – making his first Wolves start in five years – looked set to score with a close range volley, but Robles kept his shot out.

SOUTHAMPTON 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1 (6-5 on pens)

By Jack Rosser

SOUTHAMPTON will tomorrow confirm Nathan Jones as their new manager just days after axing Ralph Hasenhuttl.

And the Welshman was in the stands tonight to get a glimpse of the size of the task facing him on the south coast as his new side scraped past League One Sheffield Wednesday on penalties in the Carabao Cup.

James Ward-Prowse cancelled out Josh Windassâ opener during the 90 minutes before the hosts managed to force their way into the next round through the shootout with Alex McCarthy saving Dominic Iorfaâs sudden-death spot kick.

The Saints, who will pay Luton Town around Â£2.5million in compensation for nabbing Jones and two of his coaches, gave Hasenhuttl the boot after a desperate run of form left them in the Premier League bottom three.

And the post-Ralph era hardly got off to a flying start.

The hosts were under pressure from the off with McCarthy, a former teammate of his new gaffer, forced to save from Windass and Barry Bannan early on.

Darren Mooreâs side were taking the game to their Prem opponents and got their reward just before the half-hour mark.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru slipped a through ball into the path of Windass, who blasted past McCarthy.

The Saints were struggling to create anything going forward, but in added time before the break got the chance to level.

Moussa Djenepo drove into the box and was brought down by Marvin Johnson allowing Ward-Prowse to convert from the spot.

Adam Armstrong fired into the side netting after the restart before sub Theo Walcott saw two efforts cleared off the line.

Southampton had a late chance to win it in normal time with Stockdale tipping a Stuart Armstrong strike onto the bar.

Walcott saw a late effort saved giving Wednesday the chance of victory in the shootout.

The first five takers from both sides found the back of the net from 12-yards. Walcott bagged Southamptonâs sixth before McCarthy denied Iorfa to sends Saints through.