Boro begin Cup defence in style
Holders Boro cruised to a 3-0 win over Coventry with 19-year-old substitute Danny Graham grabbing the third goal on only his second senior appearance.
First-half strikes from Szilard Nemeth and James Morrison set up a comfortable win for Boro, who had nine changes from the team which started Sunday’s Premiership draw against Portsmouth.
Perhaps McClaren knew about the minimal threat from Peter Reid’s Sky Blues, who travelled north without a Championship win since August.
With Boro in the middle of their first UEFA Cup campaign thanks to last season’s success, they were never going to take this competition lightly.
Newcastle were forced to scrap their way into the fourth round of the Carling Cup after Norwich staged a second-half fight-back.
Graeme Souness’s side was cruising towards victory after Jermaine Jenas and Shola Ameobi had put them 2-0 up by half-time.
However, Darren Huckerby’s 56th-minute penalty gave the visitors hope, and although the Magpies had more than enough opportunities to kill the tie off, they had to defend to the final whistle to secure their safe passage.
Mark Pembridge scored a stunning winning goal as Fulham survived a battering from Steve Bruce’s side to reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup.
The Wales international struck a superb 30-yard shot past Blues ’keeper Maik Taylor with 14 minutes remaining at St Andrews to seal victory for the Cottagers.
But Fulham were indebted to a superb display from ’keeper Mark Crossley. His goal was under siege for the majority of the 90 minutes as Blues adapted better to the driving wind and rain.
Crossley, deputising for the rested Edwin van der Sar, had one of those games where he kept out everything that Birmingham threw at him with a series of stunning saves.
Crystal Palace heaped further misery on misfiring Charlton by dumping their local rivals out of the Carling Cup with a result that will leave Addicks boss Alan Curbishley furious.
Even what was effectively the Palace reserves proved too strong for the ailing Addicks, who saw their Hermann Hreidarsson opener bettered with goals from Dougie Freedman and Sandor Torghelle either side of the interval.
Torghelle was sent off for a blatant dive in the 70th minute, which incurred his second yellow card, to bring his evening to a disappointing end.
However, after guaranteeing the club’s place in the fourth round, Dowie will not be too angry with the Hungarian striker.
Teenage striker Dexter Blackstock rescued Southampton from further humiliation in this trial of a season with a stunning second-half hat-trick - after being dropped.
The 18-year-old ruined would-be Carling Cup giant-killers Colchester’s night, after a victory in the previous round against West Brom, with a trio of close-range strikes, all of them set up by fellow substitute Paul Telfer.
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