Cristiano Ronaldo and substitute Wayne Rooney scored in the last nine minutes and Manchester United ousted Aston Villa from the FA Cup 2-0 on Saturday.
Entering 11 minutes from the end, in a game watched by England's new coach Fabio Capello, Rooney inspired United's fourth successive FA Cup triumph over Villa in seven years.
Rooney started the move that ended with Ronaldo sliding home Ryan Giggs' cross in the 81st minute. After providing another expert crossfield pass to the Portuguese star, Rooney fired home first time from the edge of the area after Ronaldo's shot had been blocked by a defender.
"I think he's a fantastic footballer," United defender Rio Ferdinand said of Rooney. "He's been out for a couple of games. He looked very, very fresh when he came on. He's a player who's got bundles of energy."
United's victory over Villa followed a day of upsets.
League One Oldham triumphed 1-0 at Everton and Coventry won 4-1 at Blackburn. Another League Championship club, Sheffield United, won 1-0 at Bolton on a goal by Australian winger David Carney, and League One Huddersfield ousted Birmingham City 2-1 as soccer's oldest and most famous domestic competition lived up to its reputation for drama, tension and surprises.
Gary McDonald scored Oldham's winner at Goodison Park as the Latics, who have won seven times on the road this term, triumphed at Everton for the first time in 88 years.
Michael Mifsud, a Maltese international who used to play in Germany and Norway, scored twice as Coventry outplayed Blackburn at Ewood Park.
Defending champion Chelsea edged League Championship Queens Park Rangers 1-0 on a lucky own-goal by visiting goalkeeper Lee Camp. Claudio Pizarro's first-half shot hit the post then rebounded off the goalkeeper's body and into the net.
Some other Premier League clubs survived some scares.
Middlesbrough trailed at League Championship Bristol City after Liam Fontaine gave the home side an 18th-minute lead. But Stewart Downing and David Wheater replied for the visitors for a 2-1 victory.
Portsmouth won 1-0 at Ipswich on David Nugent's second-half goal but only after the home side, which had won 11 and drawn twice in its 13 home games in league action, had Liam Trotter harshly sent off early in the game.
A week after Tottenham beat Reading 6-4 in the Premier League, the two teams drew 2-2 in the Cup. West Ham and Manchester City also face a replay after a 0-0 draw at Upton Park, but Wigan won 3-0 at Sunderland.
One of the three clubs from outside the top four divisions made it into Monday's fourth-round draw.
Havant & Waterlooville hit back to draw 1-1 at League One leader Swansea after an 87th-minute equalizer by Rocky Baptiste and now has a lucrative replay against the Welsh team.
The semipro players of Chasetown, which is from the eighth tier of English soccer and is the lowest ranked club to reach the third round, threatened a surprise when Cardiff's Kevin McNaughton deflected a cross from Ben Steane into his own net in the 17th minute.
But Peter Whittingham, Aaron Ramsey and Paul Parry responded for a 3-1 victory.
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily
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