FA Cup Results 8th January 2011 Third Round (Part Three)

Norwich City 0-1 Leyton Orient
A 20th-minute goal from League One strugglers Leyton Orient was enough to see off Championship promotion contenders Norwich City. After coming so close to being knocked out by Droylsden in the last match. Orient were not taking any chances. Or rather, they took one chance, scored from it, and then defended brilliantly to keep out Norwich. Their next FA Cup opponents will be Swansea City at the almost impenetrable Liberty Stadium.
Andrew Crofts was one of several players rested by Norwich, who were also without the cup-tied Owain Tudur Jones.

Preston North End 1-2 Nottingham Forest
Preston went into the break a goal up but there’s a reason why Forest have forced their way into play-off contention while Preston are still floundering at the bottom. As if the news that Phil Brown was their new manager wasn’t enough, Preston fans had to watch their team lose. Again. They’re probably getting used to it by now. Forest are away at West Ham United in the fourth round.
Craig Morgan nearly scored when he got his head on the end of a corner (which sounds quite painful when I put it like that) and could have opened the scoring. But the result wouldn’t necessarily have been 2-2 if he had. Paul Parry was absent from the team with a broken wrist – not that the injury prevented him from being on the bench for the match against Crystal Palace.
Robert Earnshaw and, slightly more surprisingly, Chris Gunter both came close to putting Forest 2-1 up but luckily Forest were 2-1 up by the end anyway.

Reading 1-0 West Bromwich Albion
Not so long ago, West Brom were looking like the Premier League side beginning with W who were most likely to survive. That this was their sixth straight defeat probably makes this more doubtful although this result of course has no direct effect on their Premier League status.
Reading meanwhile seem to be heading in the opposite direction, albeit in a different division and it they’ll deservedly have the distraction of the FA Cup for one more round at least – they’ll be away at giant-killers Stevenage.
Simon Church was expected to start in the absence of Shane Long but Shane Long wasn’t absent (which must have been so annoying) and therefore Simon was on the bench. He and Hal Robson-Kanu did get a late run-out but they couldn’t add to Reading’s lead.
Boaz Myhill played in goal for West Brom and played well, the goal aside. And loads of goalkeepers have failed to keep out Shane Long shots this season.

Sheffield United 1-3 Aston Villa
The final result made it look easier than it was as Premier League strugglers Aston Villa beating Championship team Sheffield United. Villa got off to a great start with a goal from new loan signing Kyle Walker but there were mixed feelings for the passionate Sheffield United fan who began his career at his hometown club. Villa will face Blackburn Rovers in the fourth round.
Ched Evans played the full match for Sheffield United – the second consecutive match in which he hasn’t found the net (although I’m sure he would have done if Jamie Ward had let him take the penalty like he was supposed to) but with a return of four goals in his last six games, maybe it was another player’s turn to score.
James Collins was on Aston Villa’s bench for this match which raised questions (in my mind at least) about whether Gerard Houllier was reluctant to cup-tie a player he was rumoured to be selling but his appearance in the 91st minute suggested this was unlikely.