The Times, Sunday Times and Telegraph now seem to require registration to view articles on their sites, with the Times and Sunday Times charging readers outside the UK. The Times/Sunday Times has also moved some of the older articles into an archive which requires separate registration and requires you to pay to access the content. The Independent now charges for access to articles more than a week old. Hulse swoops to land the second instalment that no one wanted - Ian WhittellCopy from Football Unlimited of
09/01/2006.
For every Nuneaton on FA Cup third-round day there are numerous clubs like these. Two teams performing high above expectations in their respective divisions clearly had little interest in arguably the most eagerly anticipated weekend of the season. Indeed Wigan's manager Paul Jewell and his Leeds counterpart Kevin Blackwell both freely conceded they would have preferred extra-time and penalties to the prospect of a replay and another addition to this month's fixture list. Is this what the FA Cup has come to? Jewell made seven changes to his last Premiership line-up, most with an eye on tomorrow's Carling Cup semi-final against Arsenal, and the reasons for this tie becoming such an anti-climax become clear. When a manager places greater stress on the Carling Cup than the FA Cup, then the latter truly does have problems. Hulse holds weakened Wigan - Ian WhittellCopy from Football Unlimited of
08/01/2006.
For the past half-century or so, Wigan v Leeds would have been a fixture to set the pulse of any red-blooded rugby league supporter racing. Sadly, translated into football terms, this third-round tie, between two teams performing better than expected in their respective divisions, flatlined. In truth, there was something of a grandstand finish, with Wigan reduced to ten men because of an injury to full-back Ryan Taylor for the final quarter of an hour, a loss that contributed greatly towards Leeds' tall target man Rob Hulse grabbing an 88th-minute equaliser. But even that finale did little to salvage a contest which attracted a paltry crowd of 10,980, far less than would have watched the corresponding rugby fixture and which had both managers insisting they would have preferred the lottery of a penalty shoot-out to the prospect of a replay at Elland Road the week after next.
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Ryan Taylor
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