London: United States midfielder Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick in Fulham`s 4-0 home win over Charlton. Dempsey slotted a Danny Murphy pass on seven minutes to open the scoring and then added goals in the 61st and 81st minutes. Dempsey has seven goals in his last nine outings and 12 on the season — one shy of his career-high.
Ireland striker Simon Cox did the same for West Bromwich Albion in a 4-2 win at Cardiff City while Premier League teams Aston Villa, Stoke and Norwich also progressed.
If Blackburn and Wigan were hoping for some respite in the FA Cup amid their miserable campaigns in the English Premier League, they were to be sorely mistaken.
The topflight`s two bottom teams were the big casualties as world football`s oldest knockout competition threw up a typically mixed bag of results in the third round on Saturday.
Argentine midfielder Jonas Gutierrez scored the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Newcastle snatched a 2-1 victory over Blackburn in one of the round`s two all-Premier League matches.
In the day`s biggest giantkilling act, fourth-tier Swindon — managed by former West Ham forward Paolo Di Canio— rallied to beat Wigan 2-1 at the County Ground.
"My lads deserve something from the club — maybe just a small plaque with all their names because they did something special," Di Canio said.
It wasn`t all plain sailing for the rest of the Premier League teams either.
Queens Park Rangers required a last-minute equalizer by Heidar Helguson to secure a 1-1 draw and a replay against third-tier MK Dons while David Wheater`s 77th-minute header earned Bolton a 2-2 draw at Macclesfield, which plays in England`s fourth division.
Tottenham, which is third in the Premier League, avoided what would have been the mightiest upset by easing past fourth-tier Cheltenham 3-0 thanks to goals by attacking trio Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Giovani dos Santos.
Some of the famous romance of the cup was lost as Tamworth, Fleetwood and Salisbury were all defeated, ensuring there won`t be any non-league teams in the fourth-round draw.
Everton beat Tamworth 2-0 after goals by defenders Johnny Heitinga and Leighton Baines and fellow fifth-tier team Fleetwood was thrashed 5-1 at home by northwest rival Blackpool.
Salisbury, which at 17th in the sixth-tier Conference South was the lowest-ranked club left in the competition, was defeated 3-1 at Sheffield United.
Liverpool beat Oldham 5-1 on Friday, with the match of the round coming on Sunday when Manchester City and Manchester United — the Premier League`s top two teams — meeting in a derby at Etihad Stadium.
With Wigan manager Roberto Martinez making nine changes to his team to give his top players a rest from their exertions in the Premier League relegation battle, Swindon took full advantage to add the latest episode of magic to the renowned competition.
Callum McManaman put the visitors ahead in the 35th minute but Swindon came from behind thanks to strikes by Alan Connell and Matt Ritchie.
"This is what I remember FA Cup ties being like," Swindon chairman Jeremy Wray said. "We had a chance to play our football and we won it on merit. Absolutely superb."
Blackburn and its under-pressure manager Steve Kean can also focus all of their energy on staying in the Premier League after surrendering a lead given to the team by David Goodwillie in the 35th minute.
French playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa equalized for Newcastle, a six-time winner of the competition, in the 70th with a superb solo goal that manager Alan Pardew described as "the greatest goal, in my opinion, I have ever seen."
Gutierrez nicked the win after exchanging passes with Leon Best as Newcastle took revenge for being eliminated by Blackburn from the League Cup in October.
"We are disappointed we haven`t got a replay," Kean said. "I felt on our first-half performance, we merited one."
Newcastle was without key players Demba Ba, who has scored 15 goals in the Premier League this season, and Cheick Tiote as they are away on international duty at the African Cup of Nations.
Aston Villa beat Bristol Rovers 3-1 away, Stoke won 3-1 at Gillingham and Norwich defeated Burnley 4-1 at home.
Bureau Report
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.