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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hernandez,be a hero again!


LONDON (AP) - Javier Hernandez scored his third goal in three days Tuesday to give Manchester United a 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and continue his club's attempt to win a third straight League Cup title.

Wolves twice equalized with their first goals at Old Trafford since February 1980 but Hernandez, on as a substitute, dummied a defender and lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for a 90th-minute winner and a place in the quarterfinals.

Bebe and Park Ji-sung scored the other goals for United.

Birmingham also advanced from the fourth round but the Premier League club needed an injury-time equalizer before beating third-tier struggler Brentford 4-3 in a penalty shootout.

Ipswich beat Northampton 3-1, Wigan beat Swansea 2-0 and West Bromwich Albion won 4-1 at Leicester. United manager Alex Ferguson fielded a second-string lineup including goalkeeper Ben Amos, winger Gabriel Obertan and Portuguese forward Bebe, who started a match for the first time since joining the club in August.

But equalizers by George Elokobi and Kevin Foley forced Ferguson to introduce Hernandez, who scored twice in the Premier League on Sunday for a 2-1 win at Stoke, as an 81st-minute substitute.

"He's got a great attitude to the game and he wants to learn," United defender Wes Brown said. "He tries his hardest and he deserved his goal at the end."

Bebe put United ahead in the 56th minute with an apparent attempt to cross from the right side of the area, sending the ball looping over goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.

Foley headed the ball out from almost underneath the bar, but the referee awarded the goal after a linesman told him - correctly according to replays - that it had crossed the line.

The 20-year-old Bebe was playing in the Portuguese third division last year. He was unknown outside Portugal before United made a surprise move following recommendations from a club scout and former assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.

Elokobi headed in from a corner four minutes later and, after Park scored with a shot into the top corner, Foley collected a back-heeled pass from Steven Fletcher and hit a shot under Amos to make it 2-2 with 14 minutes left.

Hernandez then made his dramatic late entrance. "We tend to build up heroes very quickly here, but the boy's justifying the praise at the moment," Ferguson said. "He's such a great professional, the kid."

Brentford was within seconds of beating its topflight opponent but ended up going out when Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor saved the 10th kick of the shootout from Craig Woodman.

Brentford took the lead in the 68th minute, Charlie MacDonald heading the ball to Sam Wood for the midfielder to score with a low left-foot shot from about 12 meters (yards). It led until the second minute of injury time, when former England striker Kevin Phillips collected a pass by Liam Ridgewell and equalized from close range to make it 1-1.

After 30 minutes of scoreless extra time, Phillips then scored the first goal in the shootout.

Northampton, which at next-to-last in League Two is ranked 91st out of England's 92 league teams, took an early lead at Ipswich but was 2-1 down at halftime after conceding goals to Carlos Edwards and Damien Delaney.

Hungary forward Tamas Priskin completed the scoring for Ipswich in the 88th minute.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez watched his current team beat his former side with second-half goals by Mauro Boselli and Ben Watson, while Simon Cox scored twice to lead West Brom to victory against Sven-Goran Eriksson's Leicester side.

The three remaining fourth-round matches are scheduled for Wednesday, when Arsenal is at Newcastle, Aston Villa hosts Burnley, and West Ham hosts Stoke.

::TheStar::

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