FA Cup Round Up

Manchester City safely made their way through a blizzard in the North East, while Portsmouth survived a scare on the South Coast as the FA Cup third round took centre stage on Saturday. Elsewhere Burnley claimed a rare success on the road and Preston made a winning start to life after Alan Irvine, while Nottingham Forest prolonged their fine unbeaten run.

Difficult conditions at the Riverside Stadium did Middlesbrough and Manchester City no favours, as the snow fell heavily, but a single strike from Benjani was enough to hand Roberto Mancini a lucky win in his first ever FA Cup contest.

Financial troubled Pompy fell behind at home in  Fratton Park to Championship side Coventry, but hit back just before half-time through Kevin-Prince Boateng to force a replay.

Burnley had no such issues at MK Dons, with goals from Graham Alexander and Steven Fletcher seeing them safely past Paul Ince’s League One outfit, the final score there was 2-1.

Nottingham Forest and Birmingham entered their fixture at the City Ground boasting enviable recent records and it came as no surprise that defences came out on top in a goalless draw, although Robert Earnshaw did waste a golden opportunity for the hosts when he blazed a second half penalty over the crossbar.

Preston may have sacked their manager prior to their date with the ever impressive Colchester but they showed no bad affects as they claimed a more than a comprehensive 7-0 win on home soil, with Jon Parkin scoring a hat-trick.

Newcastle continue to lead the way in the Championship, while Plymouth struggle at the wrong end of the table, but they proceeded to cancel each other out at Home Park and must try again after playing out a 0-0 stalemate.

Derby have found the going tough in the second tier over recent weeks but displayed commendable battling qualities to snatch a 1-1 draw away at Millwall and keep their cup dreams alive.

The magic of the FA Cup was difficult to find in the third round as Bolton began life without Gary Megson with a victory over Lincoln, while Aston Villa progressed at the expense of Blackburn.

Roy Keane’s Ipswich beat Blackpool 2-1 at Bloomfield Road as the home side finished the game with nine men following red cards for Ian Evatt and substitute Rob Edwards after half-time.

West Brom were made to work for a victory at Huddersfield, Ipswich won a bad-tempered encounter against nine-man Blackpool, and Leicester left it late to beat Swansea.

Everton overcame Carlisle, and Roy Hodgson’s Fulham progressed to the fourth round as they knocked out Swindon.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.