Carling Cup round-up

Gunners, Stoke, Watford and Derby through to last eight

By Rob Parrish   Last updated: 11th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Carling Cup round-up

Simpson: Arsenal brace

Click below for individual match stats and reports:
Arsenal 3 Wigan 0
Derby 2 Leeds 1
Man Utd 1 QPR 0
Stoke 2 Rotherham 0
Swansea 0 Watford 1

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Arsenal's youngsters shone again in the Carling Cup, while Manchester United, Stoke, Watford and Derby also progressed to the quarter-finals.

Having brushed aside Sheffield United 6-0 in the last round, Arsene Wenger turned to his talented teenagers once again and they did not disappoint in cruising to a 3-0 victory over a strong Wigan side.

QPR threatened to frustrate Manchester United at Old Trafford, only for Carlos Tevez's late penalty to send the Red Devils through.

Stoke ended Rotherham's Carling Cup adventure with a comfortable 2-0 victory over the League Two side at the Britannia Stadium.

Watford and Derby are also through to the last eight of the competition after their respective victories over Swansea and Leeds.

Carlos Vela produced another outstanding display as Arsenal's much-changed side saw off a strong Wigan team at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners grabbed a deserved advantage just before the interval with Jay Simpson breaking clear of the Wigan defence to apply the finishing touch to Jack Wilshere's measured through-ball.

Simpson made it 2-0 with a simple finish in the 66th minute when the dangerous Vela left Emmerson Boyce in his wake after a lightning break and put the chance on a plate for the young striker.

And it was all over soon after as Vela broke forward onto Johan Djourou's pass and produced a delightful chip under pressure from Titus Bramble to leave the excellent Chris Kirkland helpless.

Adventure

Sir Alex Ferguson made a host of changes and watched Manchester United edge out QPR after dominating at Old Trafford.

Argentina international Tevez finally beat Radek Cerny from the penalty spot with just 14 minutes remaining after Peter Ramage was penalised for bringing down Danny Welbeck.

The visitors rarely threatened an upset, but thought they had levelled through Samuel Di Carmine only for their celebrations to be cut short with the assistant referee flagging for offside.

A much-changed Stoke side were still too strong for League Two Rotherham as the Millers' Carling Cup adventure ended at the Britannia Stadium.

The Potters went ahead in the 21st minute when midfielder Glenn Whelan beat Andy Warrington with a great free-kick from the edge of the box.

And when Danny Pugh stormed through the visiting defence to beat Warrington just before the hour mark the game was up.

Entertaining

Derby were made to work hard by League One outfit Leeds United at Pride Park after racing into an early two-goal lead.

Emanuel Villa was left in too much space in the sixth minute to open the scoring, before Kris Commons crossed for Nathan Ellington to add a second.

But the visitors dragged themselves back into contention before the interval thanks to Luciano Becchio's header from a Frazer Richardson cross.

Both sides had chances in an entertaining second period but Paul Jewell's men held on to reach the quarter-finals.

Lee Williamson provided the one moment of quality in an otherwise dour encounter as Watford saw off Championship rivals Swansea at Liberty Stadium.

Williamson scored the only goal of the game with 21 minutes gone as he weaved his way through the home defence and smashed a shot beyond Dimi Konstantopoulos.