Southampton 1-2 Grimsby Town: Grimsby pulled off a huge stunt in the FA Cup. The current number sixteen of the League Two, the fourth level of England, eliminated Premier League club Southampton.
For Southampton it is yet another blow to the chin this season. The club is currently at the bottom of the Premier League and also lost the crucial relegation cracker against Leeds United last Saturday. A cup game against a League Two club could have been an excellent remedy for that, but that game ended in a true fiasco for Southampton.
Ruben Selles’ team had the ball for almost three quarters of the game and Southampton fired on the enemy goal thirteen times in total. On the other hand, there were two attempts on goal by Grimsby and they both hit the mark. Just before half-time, the away team received a penalty, which was used by Gavan Holohan.
Less than five minutes after the break, exactly the same situation occurred. Referee Thomas Bramall again awarded a penalty to Grimsby and again Holohan fired in. Southampton never recovered from that deficit. Via Duje Caleta-Car it still made the connection goal (2-1), but a huge embarrassment turned out to be unavoidable.
What gives the defeat an extra sour aftertaste is that ten minutes before the end Theo Walcott thought to save the furniture for his team. He made it 2-2, but the VAR later ruled that he was offside. Grimsby thus progresses to the next round of the FA Cup. That can rightly be called a big stunt, there are 63 teams between Southampton and Grimsby on the English football ladder.
Sheffield United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Sheffield United provided the next surprise in the FA Cup tournament on Wednesday evening. The Championship club was too strong for Tottenham Hotspur on a swirling Bramall Lane.
The visitors did not think it necessary to start in Sheffield with star player Harry Kane. That did not mean that Horace Danjuma started in the base: Lucas Moura was preferred. The Brazilian was close to scoring in the first half, but he hit the crossbar. Compatriot Richarlison also did not get the ball past Sheffield goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.
After just over an hour, Kane came in to help Spurs with a winning goal, as Dejan Kulusevski and Oliver Skipp also came on. But the goal fell on the other side. Iliman Ndiaye dribbled pretty freely in Tottenham’s sixteen-meter area and found the short corner: 1-0.
Spurs did not recover from that blow and are out of the FA Cup. This means that the chance of a first prize since 2008 for the Londoners has evaporated. After all, the League Cup already went to Manchester United and Tottenham is now fifteen points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League.
Sheffield goes to the quarter-finals and meets an opponent with perspective: competitor Blackburn Rovers.
