Scott Murray's Blog, page 38

Sunderland 2-3 Fulham: FA Cup fourth round replay – as it happened

Fulham set up a fifth-round tie with Leeds after an entertaining game on Wearside

3 min: Clarke runs with purpose down the left before shuttling the ball over towards Diallo on the other flank. Diallo runs down a cul-de-sac and the impetus is gone.

2 min: Roberts is soon up again. No lounging around on the turf. It’s very cold tonight.

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Football Daily | Sheffield United, Wrexham and the reason you watch to the end of the credits

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It was inevitable that Hollywood-on-Clywedog FC’s blockbuster FA Cup showdown with Sheffield United would have a dramatic denouement worthy of Tinseltown’s golden age. The involvement of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney from That Los Angeles, in and of itself, usually guarantees nothing more than laboured cinematic allusion, celluloid punning and Metro-Goldwyn metaphor. But Tuesday night’s extremely entertaining sequel premiere at the Bramall Odeon was hailed an instant classic by all, thanks in no small part to closing scenes that featured a passionate soliloquy from Billy Sharp and a John-Wayne-versus-Victor-McLaglen-style rumble on the red carpet.

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Sheffield United 3-1 Wrexham: FA Cup fourth round replay – as it happened

The Blades left it late to stick a dagger in Wrexham hearts and earn a fifth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur

A paean to Magnet, Woodbines and chip butties rings around this famous old stadium … then the hosts get the ball rolling. The winner of this replay – which could go to extra time and penalty kicks - will host Tottenham Hotspur in round five. “I hate to break it to Wrexham fans but the sequel is almost always worse than the original,” quips Peter Oh, because somebody had to. He’s here all week, ladies and gentlemen. Try the popcorn.

Before kick-off, another perspective on Paul Mullin’s boots. “As an autistic football fan myself, Mullin’s message is great,” writes Yash Bagga of NHS England. “However just for the sake of awareness, I would really appreciate if you could include that most of us don’t like the puzzle-piece symbol. It has been used by some very questionable organisations in the past, notably Autism Speaks, and has its roots in a belief that there’s a piece missing from us that needs to be fit in the right place. But I really do appreciate Paul’s effort in generating awareness and his support for his son!”

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Football Daily | Jesse Marsch and the state of Leeds United that he leaves behind

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Take 1972, to whip a random example out of thin air, a year in which Manchester City got themselves into serious trouble over the distribution of money, in so much as they let Malcolm Allison spend it. Oh Rodney! How could you! But the rule doesn’t always apply. That year also saw Leeds United whip Manchester United 5-1, in a match which saw Mick Jones score a 15-minute hat-trick and his teammates string together a one-minute-and-20-second 22-pass sequence of contemptuous flicks and sassy feints with cheers of “easy” and “olé” ringing in the air. The famous 7-0 humiliation of Southampton (in their very next match, chronology fans and BBC 100 Great Sporting Moments completists) had nowt on this.

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Newcastle United 1-1 West Ham United: Premier League – as it happened

Callum Wilson gave Newcastle a flying start only for Lucas Paquetá to earn a precious – and well-deserved – point for the Hammers

Fabianski takes the goal kick. Schar, Joelinton and Longstaff combine to win the ball in the centre circle. Longstaff rolls a pass down the middle to release Wilson, easy as that. Wilson romps clear, opens his body, and slots into the left-hand side of the net!

Almiron couldn’t keep the ball in play. It had gone out for a goal kick. VAR points this out and the goal is chalked off. But no matter, because just after the restart, 11 seconds of action later …

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Everton 1-0 Arsenal: Premier League – as it happened

James Tarkowski’s winner kicked off the Sean Dyche era at Everton with a morale-boosting win against the Premier League leaders Arsenal

2 min: Odegaard probes down the right. Mykolenko gets right up behind him, hassling, harrying, eventually fouling. An early sign that Dyche’s Everton will come out swinging.

Arsenal get the ball rolling. “High-flying Arsenal, visiting Goodison Park to play an Everton side they’re expected to comfortably beat?” wonders Matt Dony. “Everton don’t have some 16-year-old prodigy on the bench, do they? Could come in useful.”

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Manchester United 2-0 Nottingham Forest (5-0 agg): Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg – as it happened

Forest passed up a couple of decent first-half chances but otherwise United were never in trouble as they made the final as expected

2 min: Forest are kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half. Technically speaking. They haven’t taken possession of the ball yet.

Manchester United, 3-0 up after the first leg, get the second leg underway. They’re 90 minutes away from a Wembley final against Newcastle United.

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Football Daily | Newcastle and Everton: two sleeping giants waking up in different worlds

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The 1906 FA Cup finalists, Everton and Newcastle United, are unquestionably two of the biggest clubs in English football. Between them they’ve won 13 league championships, 11 FA Cups – let’s gloss over their combined record in the League Cup – and one major European trophy each. That’s a pretty good haul. Only problem is, the freshest tick on the ledger is 28 years old, entered when the Toffees won their last FA Cup in 1995. Newcastle’s most recent contribution came 54 years ago, in a competition that doesn’t exist any more and isn’t retrospectively recognised by Uefa. But the Fairs Cup was nothing if it wasn’t something, and they did win it, so that’s good enough for Football Daily. Who hangs their hat on anything Uefa says anyway?

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Newcastle 2-1 Southampton (agg: 3-1): Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg - as it happened

Sean Longstaff was the two-goal local hero as Newcastle reached their first League Cup final since 1976

3 min: Saints allow Schar an awful lot of room to romp forward into. He slips Longstaff into some space down the inside-right channel. Longstaff looks for Wilson at the near post. Wilson pokes harmlessly wide.

2 min: It’s quiet on the pitch, though, during the opening exchanges. Football can be funny like that.

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Football Daily | Todd Boehly’s wallet and the current state of this country

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Many years ago, when Viz comic decided the time was right to redevelop its website, it put up a holding page which read, in its own inimitable style, SH!*E OLD WEBSITE *UC%£D. (Our censoring, obviously; Viz has a more liberal and grown-up policy on swearing than progressive broadsheet newspapers, company firewalls, Football Daily’s granny, etc.) We were reminded of that warning sign earlier when the IMF put up a very similarly worded notice regarding the current state of this country, prompting the likes of Rishi Sunak and Jacob Rees-Mogg to jig around in front of it insisting there was nothing to see here and that everything is OK. Sigh. Austerity, myopia and bellicosity have done a proper number on us all.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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