Manchester United, the holders, and Aston Villa, have reached the last four of the Carling Cup after both secured relatively comfortable quarter-final victories.
United beat Spurs, the side they defeated on penalties in last year’s final, 2-0 at Old Trafford with two breathtaking goals from Darron Gibson, while Aston Villa won 4-2 at Portsmouth with Stewart Downing among the scorers on his full debut for the club.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, had promised he would stick to his philosophy of fielding a team comprising largely of youngsters, but the Scot is never enamoured to let a potential trophy elude his grasp and he sprang something of a surprise by including Dimitar Berbatov in the starting line-up against his old club.
Spurs made the brighter start and a Jermain Defoe snapshot from the edge of the penalty area tested Tomas Kuszczak. But United grabbed the lead after 16 minutes with an exceptional goal from Gibson, whose perfectly-placed shot from 20 yards fizzed just inside the post.
The Ireland midfielder added a second of equally-stunning quality seven minutes before the break, collecting a lay-off from Danny Welbeck and curling a shot beyond Gomes into the top corner. Spurs created countless opportunites but too often over-elaborated in front of goal and David Bentley headed a fine cross from Gareth Bale into the side-netting late on when he really should have at least hit the target.
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Avram Grant, the new Portsmouth manager, was hoping for a victory to lift the mood of despondency on the South Coast but after going in front events then followed an all-too familiar pattern.
Portsmouth took the lead on 10 minutes when Stiliyan Petrov sliced Danny Webber’s corner past his own goalkeeper, but the visitors replied inside two minutes, Emile Heskey beating the offfside trap and clipping a cool finish over Azmir Begovic. James Milner scored a delightful second for Villa after 27 minutes, picking up a short throw-in and curling a wonderful shot into the far corner.
The visitors added a third seemingly to make the game safe 16 minutes from time when Ashley Young’s cross was headed in at the far post by Downing, his first goal for the club on his full debut. Portsmouth had other ideas, though, and Nwankwo Kanu reduced the deficit only for Ashley Young to kill off the game almost immediately with his fifth goal of the season.
You can relive commentary on both matches by clicking on the respective links below.
There has also been a full programme in Coca-Cola Leagues One and Two this evening and you can catch up on all the goal news by clicking on our Match Tracker service.
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Carling Cup quarter-final results
Manchester United 2 (Gibson 16, 38) Tottenham Hotspur 0 How the match unfolded
Portsmouth 2 (Petrov og 10, Kanu 87) Aston Villa 4 (Heskey 12, Milner 27, Downing 74, Young 87) How the match unfolded
Tonight’s full details
Carling Cup quarter-finals
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Manchester United 2 Tottenham 0
Manchester United: Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Vidic, De Laet, Park, Gibson, Anderson (Tosic 82), Obertan (Carrick 62), Welbeck, Berbatov (Macheda 62). Substitutes not used: Amos, Owen, Giggs, Fletcher. Booked: De Laet, Gibson.
Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Bassong, Dawson, Bale, Lennon, Jenas, Palacios (Huddlestone 46), Bentley, Defoe, Keane (Crouch 66). Substitutes not used: Walker, Pavlyuchenko, Naughton, Corluka, Rose. Booked: Hutton.
Attendance: 57,212. Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).
Portsmouth 2 Aston Villa 4
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Portsmouth: Begovic, Vanden Borre, Kaboul, Ben-Haim, Hreidarsson, Yebda, Brown, Hughes (Wilson 85), Belhadj, Webber (Kanu 65), Utaka (Piquionne 76). Substitutes not used: Ashdown, Mullins, Dindane, Basinas. Booked: Brown, Vanden Borre, Kaboul.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Luke Young, Dunne, Cuellar, Warnock, Milner, Petrov, Downing, Agbonlahor, Heskey (Delfouneso 90), Ashley Young. Substitutes not used: Friedel, Delph, Reo-Coker, Beye, Gardner, Clark. Booked: Milner, Agbonlahor.
Attendance: 17,034 Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)