Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:22:28 GMT
Manchester United's Darron Gibson, centre right, reacts after scoring against Tottenham. Defending champion Manchester United has stormed into the Carling Cup semifinals following a 2-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
Two magnificent strikes from the Irish Darron Gibson in the 16th and 38th minutes sent the Red Devils through on a cold and frosty Tuesday evening. "The
movement and working off the ball was good - and a terrific finish," said Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson. "Gibson and Anderson did very well in the middle of the park. We're two games away from Wembley, that's good. We'll enjoy the semifinal and these lads will play again," he added.
In another match the same day, Aston Villa advanced to the Carling Cup semifinals after it gained a 4-2 over Portsmouth.
Aston Villa's Stiliyan Petrov scored an own goal after 10 minutes, but Portsmouth replied through Emile Heskey two minutes later at Fratton Park.
England winger James Milner made it 2-1 for Aston Villa in the 27th and Stewart Downing added a third on his first Villa start in the 74th.
Nwankwo Kanu gave Villa a late scare when he pulled one back three minutes from time, but Ashley Young sealed the victory with a fourth goal to send Martin O'Neill's side through in the last minute of the game.
Manchester City is to host Arsenal and Chelsea will face Blackburn in the remaining quarterfinal matches to be held on Wednesday.
English Carling Cup Quarter-finals
DATE Home SCORE OPPONENT
12/01 Portsmouth 2 - 4 Aston Villa
12/01 Manchester United 2 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur 12/2 19:45 UK Manchester City VS Arsenal
12/2 20:00 UK Blackburn Rovers VS Chelsea ·
Complete Fixtures/Results
Top Scorers
PLAYERS Goals
Neil Harris 4
Peter Crouch 4
Wayne Routledge 4
Chris Brown 4
Frederic Piquionne 3
Grant Holt 3
Complete Stats