The first half of Tuesday's Carling Cup ties saw very little action, with only the Ipswich-Northampton and Leicester City-West Bromwich Albion matches featuring goals at the break. In the background, Manchester United-Wolverhampton, Birmingham City-Brentford, and Wigan-Swansea toddled along, leaving many fans again questioning the very existence of the League Cup.
Carling Cup Fourth Round: Tuesday’s Matches Bring No Surprises
Things sprung to life shortly after the start of the second half, when Wigan, Manchester United and Leicester City all scored within the first ten minutes. Well, West Brom player Nicky Shorey actually scored for the Foxes, but they still got on the score sheet. Not that it mattered much considering Leicester fell 1-4 to their Premier League competition. Roberto di Matteo didn't even start any of the eleven that featured in the 2-1 defeat over Fulham at the weekend. Hey guys, these Baggies just might be for real.
Birmingham City, on the other hand, haven’t quite figured out if they’re a team that belongs in the Premier League. Despite fielding a nearly full-strength side against League One Brentford, it took the Blues until the second minute of added time to find the equalizer. The Bees were just two minutes away from advancing to the cup quarter-finals, and instead fell 4-3 in the penalty shootout.
Roberto Martinez showed that the best revenge is winning, silencing the jeers of the Swansea supporters who showed up in part to boo their former manager with a 2-0 win over the Swans. Wigan's summer signing, Argentine Mauro Boselli, opened the scoring by netting his first goal for the club.
Javier Hernandez was again the difference-maker for Manchester United, coming on just nine minutes before scoring the winning goal against Wolves in the 90th minute. Ipswich Town saw off the last League Two side in the competition by beating Northampton 3-1
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