QPR Secures Its First F.A. Cup Victory Since 2001 as Bolton, Leicester Win
Premier League clubs Queen’s Park Rangers and Bolton advanced to the fourth round of English soccer’s F.A. Cup, where they’ll be joined by Leicester and Millwall.
QPR beat Milton Keynes Dons 1-0 on Danny Gabbidon’s goal, while Kevin Davies and Martin Petrov scored in Bolton’s 2-0 win over Macclesfield Town. Jermaine Beckford’s hat trick led Leicester past Nottingham Forest 4-0 and Millwall routed Dagenham & Redbridge 5-0 as Darius Henderson scored three times.
All of last night’s matches were replays after the original third-round games finished tied.
QPR struggled against MK Dons, who play in England’s third tier, before Gabbidon headed in Shaun Wright-Phillips’s corner kick in the 73rd minute. It was the defender’s first goal since March 2005, when he played for Cardiff.
It was the first F.A. Cup victory since 2001 for QPR, which will host west London rival Chelsea in the next round. It was also the first win for manager Mark Hughes, who replaced the fired Neil Warnock on Jan. 10.
Davies and Petrov had first-half goals to lift Bolton to the home win over Macclesfield, which is ranked 64 places below Wanderers in League Two. Davies scored in the first minute and Petrov followed with a goal 25 minutes later.
Bolton, which reached the F.A. Cup semifinals last year, next hosts Swansea in an all-Premier League tie.
Foxes Ease Through
Leicester took the lead at home over Championship rival Nottingham Forest in the seventh minute on an own goal from George Boateng. Beckford doubled the lead in the 30th minute and completed his hat trick in the opening 12 minutes of the second half.
The Foxes will next play League Two’s Swindon.
Millwall broke out of its scoring slump in routing Dagenham & Redbridge to secure an all-Championship matchup with Southampton. The Lions had scored just once in their past eight games.
Henderson and Kane each scored once in the first half. Henderson then had two goals in four minutes early in the second half for his hat trick and Kane got his second in the 65th minute.
The third round concludes tonight with two more replays as Wrexham hosts Brighton and Birmingham visits Wolverhampton.
F.A. Cup Fourth-Round Draw -------------------------- Brighton or Wrexham vs Newcastle Sunderland vs Middlesbrough Millwall vs Southampton Hull City vs Crawley Town QPR vs Chelsea West Brom vs Norwich City Blackpool vs Sheffield Wednesday Arsenal vs Aston Villa Stevenage vs Notts County Watford vs Tottenham Liverpool vs Manchester United Derby vs Stoke City Everton vs Fulham Bolton vs Swansea City Sheffield United vs Birmingham or Wolverhampton Leicester vs Swindon Town
To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Bensch in London at bbensch@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net.