Chelsea scored three times in 11 second-half minutes to ease into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 4-0 win over Preston at Stamford Bridge.

A frustrating showing from Mauricio Pochettino’s side, in which they hogged the ball throughout the first half but carved few openings, burst to life 13 minutes after the break with Armando Broja heading in his second goal of the season from Malo Gusto’s cross.

That was followed by two in rapid succession, first from substitute Thiago Silva, who nodded in from Cole Palmer’s corner, then another when Raheem Sterling whacked a free-kick beyond the dive of goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, as Preston’s accomplished first-half defensive showing faded into memory.

Enzo Fernandez tapped in right at the end from a yard out, a final reminder of the gulf to Ryan Lowe’s side who are 14th in the Championship.

Sterling had had the game’s first chance, shooting towards Woodman’s top corner after 17 minutes, his effort turned behind at the near post. Moments later Palmer should have opened the scoring when he beat the Preston offside trap from Mykhailo Mudryk’s lofted pass and tried to lift the ball into the goal, but saw his dinked attempt drop inches wide.

Preston contained Chelsea well for the opening half-hour and carved an opening of their own, Milutin Osmajic darting into the box from a headed flick-on and attempting a finish across Djordje Petrovic, though it was light work for the goalkeeper to drop to his right and save. Will Keane’s scuffed shot from the edge of the box was fielded with similar ease.

Fernandez might have done better when he flung his head at Sterling’s deflected cross, in the end an easy catch for Woodman as a frustrating first half stubbornly failed to ignite.

Pochettino named a near full-strength side, the only surprise a first senior start at right-back for academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist. The 20-year-old acquitted himself well, willing to show for the ball and a composed defensive presence, but his teammates on the whole delivered as drab and uninspiring a 45 minutes as home supporters have witnessed this season.

Much of Chelsea’s problem under Pochettino has stemmed from players being too static when in possession, rendering attacking moves easy to anticipate for opposition defenders. Here in the first half, Palmer and Fernandez showed themselves again to be excellent passers of the ball, but with too little movement the play became predictable.

It was not a surprise then that the opening goal came from a Preston mistake. Keane was caught in possession inside his own penalty area, and the lively Mudryk hounded him off the ball. He knocked it back to Gusto, who whipped in a superb cross met by the head of Broja, stealing in ahead of Liam Lindsay to glance it into the far corner to the home fans’ audible relief.

Broja might and perhaps ought to have made it two, meeting Mudryk’s ball in and directing a near identical header an inch over Woodman’s crossbar, as Chelsea finally asserted their superior class.

A second goal though was not long in coming. No sooner had Silva emerged from the bench to an uproarious ovation from around the ground than he headed in for 2-0, rising unchallenged to thump Palmer’s header in at the near post.

Sterling’s goal to make it three was a peach, curling a free-kick into the top corner after Palmer was felled on the edge of the box, before a ludicrously drawn out VAR check confirmed a fourth from Fernandez at the end.

Matty Cash’s late winner saw Aston Villa progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup as they beat Middlesbrough 1-0.

Carabao Cup semi-finalists Boro were denied another cup run when Cash’s deflected strike found the bottom corner in the 87th minute.

The Premier League side had threatened from corners in the second half and a set-piece ultimately proved to be Boro’s undoing as Unai Emery’s side prevailed.

The first chance of the contest fell to Villa when Boubacar Kamara flicked the ball to Jhon Duran, who cut in from the left and fired towards the bottom corner but goalkeeper Tom Glover stuck out a leg to turn the ball behind.

The visitors grew into the game and Alex Moreno caused problems with some dangerous crosses, one finding Cash who smashed the ball into the crowded Boro box.

Alex Bangura tried to catch Villa on the break with some good balls through to Josh Coburn and posed a threat after latching on to a great cross-field ball, but Villa were able to clear.

The game suddenly sprung into life in the 32nd minute when Jacob Ramsey’s powerful shot was deflected over the bar and Leander Dendoncker narrowly headed over from the resulting corner.

Duran then forced a great save from Glover and Boro raced up the other end of the pitch as Dan Barlaser threaded the ball to Morgan Rogers, but Emiliano Martinez managed to palm it away for a corner.

The hosts had a great chance just on the cusp of half-time as Bangura fired a dangerous cross across the box, but neither Coburn nor Isaiah Jones could stab home.

A frenetic opening to the second half saw Glover make a fantastic save just four minutes in as a short corner allowed John McGinn to unleash a powerful strike on the edge of the box, but the goalkeeper tipped the ball over the crossbar.

Villa threatened again from corners in the 52nd minute as Ezri Konsa’s header smashed off the inside of the far post and another set-piece one minute later saw Moreno blast the ball over the bar from close range.

They had a penalty shout waved away when Moreno went down in the box and Boro began to threaten at the other end as Clement Lenglet made a fantastic slide to deny Jones’ cross.

The Villa defence were forced to clear a number of balls fired into the box and manager Emery responded with a quadruple change in the 70th minute, bringing on Ollie Watkins, Moussa Diaby, Douglas Luiz and Nicolo Zaniolo.

Emmanuel Latte Lath did well to flick Douglas Luiz’s free-kick behind and the Boro forward was soon involved at the other end of the pitch as Martinez smothered his run from the left.

Diaby had a great chance in the Boro box but scuffed his shot before Martinez was called into action again to hold Rogers’ cross.

Villa struck in the 87th minute as another short corner fell to Cash outside the box and his effort took a deflection off Latte Lath to beat Glover and send Villa through.

Goals from Daley Blind and Yan Couto fired Girona into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 win away to Segunda Division Elche.

Blind and Couto scored in either half for the LaLiga title challengers but Elche, 12th in Spain’s second tier, had a total of 22 attempts on goal without finding a way to beat visiting goalkeeper Juan Carlos.

Girona coach Michel made five changes from the side that beat Atletico Madrid 4-3 last time out, with match-winner Ivan Martin among those to keep their places.

Elche took the game to their high-flying opponents from the off, with John Donald, Mario Gaspar and Tete Morente all threatening in the early going.

Blind, also on the scoresheet against Atletico in midweek, dropped to the bench but was brought into the action on the half-hour mark after an injury to Eric Garcia, and within seven minutes the former Manchester United player was back among the goals.

Jhon Solis tried to turn Portu’s corner goalwards and the ball fell for Blind to finish from close range.

Elche returned for the second half seeming reinvigorated and again had a string of chances, as Gaspar, Nicolas Fernandez and Rodrigo Mendoza all had opportunities to bring them level.

But they were struggling to test the goalkeeper, all too often firing wide, and it was Girona who looked more likely to score as Valery Fernandez tested Miguel San Roman from a tight angle before Juanpe headed narrowly wide from a corner.

Morente forced a save from Juan Carlos in the 66th minute, and moments later Girona were 2-0 up as they went down to the other end where Couto fired in from the edge of the box.

A string of substitutions disrupted the flow of the game and it was Elche who finished on top, creating more opportunities for Fernandez, Josan and Nicolas Castro without being able to capitalise on any of them.

When Mendoza was denied by Juan Carlos from close range in the 81st minute there was a sense their best chance of getting back into the game had gone, and there was a late chance for Miguel Gutierrez to add a third for the visitors but his shot was saved.

Watford head coach Valerien Ismael was pleased at the second-half reaction from his side, as they spared their FA Cup blushes with a 2-1 win over Chesterfield.

A goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time from Tom Dele-Bashiru broke the hearts of the National League leaders, who would have felt they deserved at least a replay.

Watford won their first FA Cup third-round tie at home since 2018, and progressed to the fourth round for the first time since reaching the final in 2019.

But Ismael was content with avoiding having to go to the SMH Group Stadium for a replay.

He said “The main thing in the cup is always to come through, because nobody will talk about the actual game.

“We made the game complicated for ourselves, and credit to Chesterfield they played well with a nothing-to-lose mentality.

“In the first half I didn’t get the feeling we controlled anything, at half time I told them we had to come back in our mentality – to raise our standards.

“That is non-negotiable, to play to your standards. The second half was much better and it showed a good mentality to score in the last minute.

“We’ve overcome the challenge. I prefer to score in the last minute rather than have a rematch.”

Backed by close to 4000 supporters, Chesterfield almost conceded after five minutes when Yaser Asprilla intercepted a back pass from Branden Horton, but his effort was blocked by Ryheem Sheckleford.

Goalkeeper Ryan Boot was needed on 24 minutes when Ismael Kone found space to bear down on goal but saw his shot denied the shotstopper.

The National League side then stunned their hosts three minutes later. A cross from the byline by Sheckleford found the head of Joe Quigley, who directed a simple header into the net.

It could have been even better for the visitors less than forty seconds after the restart, when keeper Daniel Bachmann had to save from Ollie Banks, following a move involving Sheckleford.

After a triple substitution was made to change the fortunes of Watford, it was down to one of the replacements in Mileta Rajovic to finally unlock the Chesterfield back line.

His header from a cross by Yaser Asprilla on 76 minutes sent an audible sigh of relief around Vicarage Road.

Although Watford were by far the more energetic of the two sides, Chesterfield could have won with seven minutes remaining, when sub Ryan Colclough headed over from less than six yards out.

The game was settled deep into injury time when Dele-Bashiru struck low past Boot, to earn a victory that was possibly ill-deserved.

Chesterfield assistant manager Danny Webb admitted the late defeat was hurtful, but his focus quickly returned to his side getting back into the EFL for the first time since 2018

He said “It’s a kick in the teeth, but when we look at the other scores in the National League today, which is what our bread and butter is, getting out that division, they went for us.

“We’re six points clear at the top, we’ve had a cracking day out and we’ve taken a Championship side toe to toe. Their bit of quality came through at the end.

“The supporters will be a bit down and a bit gutted.

“When you come to these places, the notch goes up – there’s a bit more quality, they’re a bit fitter and quicker.

“I won’t say we outplayed Watford, but we gave them a good game.”

Jamaica and Manchester City superstar striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw is one of six nominees for the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) Player of the Month award for December.

Shaw strengthened her position at the top of the division’s goalscoring chart with a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-1 success over Everton on December 17 in Merseyside.

The Jamaican shrugged off the disappointment of missing an early penalty to break the deadlock with a sublime chip over Courtney Brosnan.

She then added to her tally with a clinical low finish before heading home City’s fourth after the interval to finish the scoring.

Shaw is now the leading scorer in the WSL with nine goals in as many league games.

Also nominated for the award is Shaw’s City teammate Lauren Hemp who got a pair of goals in the team’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa on December 9.

Manchester United’s Ella Toone, Liverpool’s Taylor Hinds, Leicester City’s Lena Petermann and Tottenham Hotspur’s Barbora Votikova complete the nominees.

Stephen Clemence was proud of his Gillingham players despite going down 4-0 to the Premier League’s bottom side Sheffield United in the FA Cup.

Doubles from William Osula and James McAtee saw the Blades into the fourth round at the expense of their League Two opponents.

But the Gills gave as good as they got for large parts of the game and Clemence took heart from the performance.

“I’m proud of the boys, I’m proud of the way they applied themselves and proud of the way they tried to make an impact on the game,” said the Gillingham boss.

“At times we had to sit in and weather the storm, but when we did have the ball we tried to be positive. It’s very hard to work our patterns against a Premier League side, but on another day we’d have got a couple of goals.”

League Two’s least potent attack came close to opening the scoring when Conor Masterson beat his man and saw a goalbound shot blocked.

Oli Hawkins wasted a brilliant chance for the Gills when he miscued a first-half header and, at 2-0 down in the second half, skipper Max Ehmer’s effort struck the post.

“I never felt it was a 4-0, the boys are unlucky with that,” Clemence insisted. “If Max’s header goes in, the place would have erupted and it would have been a really interesting end to the game.

“But Premier League players don’t need many chances to score, and that’s one of the biggest differences playing against top teams. I’m disappointed with the goals we conceded – I wouldn’t want to concede them in a League Two game, I know that for sure.”

Osula’s opener came following a United break on 14 minutes, with his low effort going through the legs of Gills goalkeeper Jake Turner.

The Dane then capitalised on Turner’s poor parry from Femi Seriki’s shot to side-foot home for his second six minutes before half-time.

McAtee ended any doubts about the result on 83 minutes, as he beat the offside trap to meet Ollie Norwood’s pass and fire past the luckless Turner.

He completed the scoring with the best goal of the tie with three minutes remaining, blazing into the top corner from 20 yards after Gustavo Hamer’s short corner caught Gillingham napping.

The Blades, FA Cup semi-finalists last season, earned their first away win of the campaign in all competitions.

United manager Chris Wilder said: “We did a job, didn’t we? We knew they’d be spirited opponents and it was a great experience for our younger lads.

“Everybody in the world outside of Sheffield was expecting an upset today. We haven’t won a lot of games of football but this was a good afternoon’s work.

“Maybe it was a bit of kidology from me this week, but I always thought we’d do it. I know what these occasions are like; this is where you really get judged as a player. There weren’t any shortcuts in our approach to the game, and there weren’t any shortcuts on the pitch today.

“If we’d have let the crowd find their voice, we’d have felt their heat. But we never really allowed that, the way we kept the ball, the way we took our chances, and the way we defended when we had to.

“Winning is enjoyable for everybody today. I’m not going to be embarrassed about winning a game, I’m not going to be embarrassed for our reaction to it. We had to be good today and we were.”

Charlton manager Michael Appleton remains positive about his side’s fortunes going forward despite them conceding another late goal in a 3-3 draw at Port Vale.

The Addicks led on three occasions, through Corey Blackett-Taylor, Daniel Kanu and Tyreece Campbell, but goals from Ethan Chislett and Uche Ikpeazu were added to by Gavin Massey’s fantastic curling effort in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to earn Vale a point.

It comes on the back of conceding late goals in recent losses to Oxford, Bristol Rovers and Leyton Orient, as well as draws with Burton and Cambridge, amid a seven-match winless run in Sky Bet League One.

“There’s times when I just want to get myself on the pitch and deal with it,” Appleton said.

“But I think I mentioned it last week, and certainly I’ve mentioned it this week, we’ve got to keep putting ourselves in that position – that’s the most important thing.

“So when you’re on a run and got a spell like this, it’s dead easy to lose two, three-nil.

“When you don’t go ahead in a game or you concede the first goal, or allow the opposition to sort of get away from you, you think next week it’s not going happen.

“But the one thing the players are really good at is getting themselves in that position time and time again.

“Now ultimately, at some point, we’ve got to get over the line and we’ve got to see it out.

“But I’m a firm believer that if you do keep putting yourselves into that position, (and add) one or two maybe new faces et cetera to give everyone else a lift, that’ll happen.”

Port Vale boss Andy Crosby believes his team should have taken all three points, even though they had to come from behind three times to secure a share of the spoils.

“We should have won in my opinion,” he said.

“If we continue to do what we’re doing without the ball, we’re going to become a mid-table team that doesn’t achieve what it should do.

“When you give presents like we did away to a team like that, you’re not going to win games of football.

“We dominated the game, we’ve given chances away to the opposition and it’s just a present.

“We’ve had so many opportunities ourselves.”

Crosby’s side have moved up to 14th in the table, one place behind Charlton who they continue to trail only by goal difference.

He also reserved praise for Charlton goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer, who produced a number of excellent saves.

“Their keeper is the man of the match by an absolute mile,” Crosby added.

“We’ve scored three goals, we should have scored more.

“We’ve collected one point, we should have collected three.”

Plymouth’s new head coach Ian Foster expressed his delight at Argyle progressing to the FA Cup fourth round following a 3-1 home win over League Two strugglers Sutton.

Playmaker Morgan Whittaker took his tally to 14 goals with a stoppage-time strike and won a second-half penalty, converted by Ryan Hardie to make it 2-1 after Sutton striker Lee Angol had cancelled out Luke Cundle’s first-half opener.

Foster, appointed on Friday night, said: “It’s magical the FA Cup and I can’t wait to see who we get in the next round.

“For the majority I was pleased. I don’t think it was easy for the players having a new head coach walk into the building as late as I did. I thought they responded well to that.

“I just gave them a few messages around the game.

“The team were prepared really well in my absence but I just thought it was really important for me not to miss a wonderful opportunity to get on the touchline and be in and around the group today.

“I just made a couple of tactical nuances that I thought might help us and then just a couple of final messages around experiences of this type of game.

“The one thing I asked the players for was to play with a front-foot mentality. I wanted us to be aggressive without the ball, force errors.

“I wanted us to show control and patience in possession and recognise those opportunities to keep the ball, and fast attack when they are out of shape.

“It was nothing weird or wonderful, just adding something that I thought might be important.

“I was definitely able to impact from the side of the pitch.

“I’ve known Jason (Goodliffe) for a very long time and you have to win individual battles because they make it very hard for you.”

Interim Sutton boss Jason Goodliffe said: “We started a little bit slowly and the goal came at a difficult time but I was really pleased with the reaction after that.

“I thought by the end of the first half we started to show signs that we were capable of doing a bit more.

“The chat at half-time was telling them to believe a little bit more in what we could do going forward and we got ourselves a good goal and, at 1-1, I thought we were well in the game.

“We had some really good moments without necessarily being able to capitalise on those and the second goal comes out of nothing in terms of the penalty.

“Even then at 2-1, I still felt we were going to create something and have an opportunity but it didn’t quite fall for us unfortunately and I felt 3-1 at the end was a little bit harsh.

“The belief was coming into the players and particularly down the left hand side we had some really good moments, but just weren’t able to put it in the back of the net.

“There were times when the crowd were getting on the backs of Plymouth and it was quiet and it showed we were doing something right.

“Our fans were absolutely superb and didn’t stop singing all game. That really spurred us on in the second half playing towards them.

“Coming to a Championship team and leaving with a feeling of being hard done by shows how well the players have done.”

Manager Russell Martin admitted Ryan Fraser has done everything possible to start for Southampton after his sensational performance in the 4-0 FA Cup home win over Walsall.

Fraser scored twice and set up another as Saints strolled into the fourth round and moved to a 19th game unbeaten in all competitions.

The Scotland international has been forced to wait for his chances after arriving on loan from Newcastle but with injuries to Kamaldeen Sulemana and Samuel Edozie, he got Martin’s attention at the right time.

Martin said: “He was really good, really brilliant. He has such an amazing attitude and is a good example for the young boys.

“He’s been great coming off the bench recently, now Sam Edozie’s got an injury so Ryan has put himself in the frame to play from the start.

“As long as he brings what he does all the time then he will be a big player of us.

“He maybe hasn’t started as many games as people may have thought or what he’d like but he’s been a huge player for us.

“He’s been frustrated but in the right way. We wouldn’t have signed him if he was a bad character. He is the Ryan I remember playing with.

“He’s a good guy who smiles a lot and knows everything about football, watches every game possible and is in such great shape.

“We had a chat and he understood his role, especially as the other guys have been brilliant. He said he’d do everything he could whilst in that role.

“Of course he wants to start games but now he’s accepted it and has shown what he can do when he’s come off the bench. Days like today will definitely help him.”

Fraser opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he cottoned onto Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ ball over the top.

Championship promotion hunters Saints had to wait until the second half to run riot as Fraser teed up Sekou Mara to swivel and finish.

Fraser then added his second with a sublime finish into the bottom corner before Che Adams showed his strength and finishing abilities to help Saints score four at home for the third time in their last four matches.

The Saddlers had three good chances of their own, with Tom Knowles twice going close and Isaac Hutchinson also forcing a save out of Joe Lumley.

Boss Mat Sadler said: “We were certainly in the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“They are a fantastic team and I’m glad we don’t have to play them every week. We’ve seen Championship sides blown away by them so we were fully aware of the task at hand.

“I wanted my team to give a good account of themselves and they did. I wouldn’t have fancied a replay, though.

“We grew into the game and it was fantastic to see but we didn’t score when we needed to score.

“We had three really good chances and unfortunately we didn’t take any of those.

“We are such a united football club at the moment and that will be hugely powerful going into the next part of the season.

“We wanted to upset it and ideally we didn’t want to go behind so early in the game but the reaction to that was great.”

Norwich head coach David Wagner pulled no punches after his Championship side were held to a 1-1 draw by League One Bristol Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup.

There were calls for Wagner to go from some quarters at the final whistle at Carrow Road while there was also criticism of the quality of football being produced by his team during the game.

Grant Ward cancelled out Ashley Barnes’ opener for the Canaries as Rovers claimed a deserved replay.

“It was a poor performance, well below par,” said Wagner. “We have high expectations of the players here and were certainly expecting a much better performance than that.

“We picked a team fresh enough to go out and do what was required and at the end of the day they had to play better.”

As for the criticism heading in his direction, Wagner added: “On a personal level it is not nice to hear things like that but it should not affect what is happening out on the pitch – how we play, how we pass the ball.

“Let’s not look for excuses. We have to do better, it is as simple as that, and the good thing about football is this was only one game – there is always another one coming up when you can be a lot better.”

Wagner made nine changes to the side held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton on New Year’s Day and revealed one was forced on them with on-loan striker Hwang Ui-jo out injured.

“We decided to give some of the lads a break after a busy period of games but Hwang has picked up a hamstring injury and will be out for six weeks.”

Both goals came in a five-minute spell early in the first half, with Norwich opening the scoring and Rovers swiftly getting back on level terms.

The Canaries edged in front after 12 minutes when Onel Hernandez out-muscled Tristan Crama on the right before delivering a cross into the six-yard box that was comfortably side-footed home by Barnes.

Rovers responded in a positive fashion and equalised when a poor clearance from Kellen Fisher fell at the feet of Ward, who curled the ball into the top corner from around 10 yards.

Luke Thomas hit the upright just before half-time as the League One side continued to give a good account of themselves while substitute Adam Idah twice went close for the home side after the break but both sides had to settle for a replay at The Memorial Ground later this month.

Rovers boss Matt Taylor was full of praise for his team afterwards.

He said: “I’m so pleased with the performance, so pleased with what the team and what the club stood for in terms of the effort on the pitch and the effort from the fans.

“We did have a threat about us, especially in that first half. Our keeper doesn’t feel he has been over-worked.

“I think we defended our box pretty well, set-pieces included, so a step in the right direction. We are still in the draw. We don’t feel it’s a missed opportunity. The opportunity will now come in 10 days’ time.

“I can’t complain about the performance. We’ve limited them to half-chances. Our keeper has not really had too many saves to make. So we defended our box and defensive third really well.

“You always want more from an attacking sense but we have to respect where the game was today, at Norwich.

“I thought it was a good standard of football – really good. Two good teams going at it. We had a threat about us.

“Second half, we had to withstand a little bit of field position and pressure that didn’t materialise to chances around our goal.

“And then you’re thinking can we go and pinch it at the end for a memorable cup victory. But we’ll take taking them back to our home patch.”

Andoni Iraola hailed Bournemouth’s half-time belief after they fought back from two goals down to beat QPR 3-2 and reach the FA Cup fourth round.

Sinclair Armstrong and Lyndon Dykes gave the Championship hosts the advantage at the break.

But strikes from Marcus Tavernier, Kieffer Moore and Justin Kluivert helped the Cherries produce an impressive comeback at Loftus Road.

Iraola said: “We had to play with much more urgency. We were keeping possession without attacking spaces and we were not making the differences.

“Second half we had a higher rhythm and we made the difference. It’s good that we are in a good mental position because we have played good lately.

“I could feel at half-time that we believed it was possible. The mentality of the players was that we can do it. We felt if we improved we would have a chance.”

QPR have struggled defending set-pieces since Marti Cifuentes took over in October.

Iraola lauded the execution of Moore’s equaliser when the striker beat goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and got on the end of Alex Scott’s corner after 58 minutes.

He said: “They’ve struggled with defensive set-pieces and luckily for us our execution was really good and we could score the goals.

“We had a change of attitude and we needed to play in a different way.”

Cifuentes acknowledged his side’s poor set-piece record and that it could be a mental issue.

The Spaniard refused to take aim at 36-year-old Begovic despite the error.

He said: “You don’t have to be a genius to see the stats and that since I’ve been here we’ve conceded 15 goals and 10 of them have been from set-pieces.

“Unfortunately set-pieces have been an issue for a while and we are not getting better so we need the balance. It can be an issue mentally as well.

“The fact we are conceding goals from set-pieces is more than just the keeper, Asmir is a very experienced keeper, he knows how to handle.

“He’s the type of leader who wants to take responsibility. I don’t want to point individually, this is a team task.”

Cheltenham boss Darrell Clarke hailed midfielder Liam Sercombe’s influence after his quickfire brace sealed a shock 2-1 home win over leaders Portsmouth.

Pompey had taken the lead through a 49th-minute own goal but the Robins responded quickly, with Sercombe’s first brace for the club sealing three valuable points in their battle against the drop.

The vastly experienced Sercombe has scored four goals in his last five games and is clearly enjoying life under Clarke, who also managed him at Bristol Rovers.

“Sercs has done that all his career and he knows where the back of the net is,” Clarke said.

“They were great goals and he is leading by example. He’s an important, senior member of my team and he’s done the business today.

“He did his job and then I took him off to shore it up in midfield and said ‘come and sit with me Sercs – two brilliant goals mate!’ but he was excellent.”

Cheltenham remain in the bottom four, but their sixth win in 15 games under Clarke has given them renewed belief that they can survive.

“The way the boys put their bodies on the line was absolutely tremendous,” he said.

“I am delighted to come back from a goal down and win the game as well. I am over the moon with it.”

Portsmouth were on top for much of the first half, with Abu Kamara a major threat.

But they failed to seriously test goalkeeper Luke Southwood, who made comfortable saves from Sean Raggett and Marlon Pack.

Kamara had the ball in the net before half-time, but the whistle had already been blown for a foul on him and it was ruled out.

But Paddy Lane’s cross was helped on by Raggett and Tom Bradbury deflected it into his own net under pressure from Colby Bishop in the 49th minute.

Portsmouth were in front for less than two minutes, with Will Ferry’s long throw-in hooked in by Sercombe in the 51st minute.

The winner came when George Lloyd dispossessed Conor Shaughnessy in the 54th minute, allowing Sercombe to smash into the roof of the net for his sixth of the season.

Pompey boss John Mousinho felt his team controlled the game and should have had two penalties.

“By the time we went 1-0 up I felt we deserved the lead,” Mousinho said.

“There were five minutes of absolute madness from us when they scored, but after that we dominated.

“We should’ve had two penalties, but ended up with two bookings for diving. It was a disappointing afternoon.

“A lot of stuff didn’t go for us as far as refereeing decisions go, but we didn’t lose the game because of that, we lost it because of our own sloppy errors.

“I can live with today because we performed pretty well, but I’m still puzzled as to how we lost it.

“As much as it’s a blow, we need to dust ourselves down and go again.”

Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi admits he will demand more from Joao Pedro even though only Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have scored more this season.

The Brazilian’s late double in a 4-2 victory at Stoke avoided a potential FA Cup upset and took his personal tally to 15 in his maiden campaign for the Seagulls.

It equalled Glenn Murray’s 15-goal haul from the 2018-19 season and the club’s best return in a top-flight campaign since Michael Robinson (22) in 1980-81.

Manchester City’s Haaland (19) and Liverpool’s Salah (18) are the only Premier League players to have have scored more in all competitions but De Zerbi believes that is the level to which the youngster has to aspire.

“I love Joao Pedro and I know his potential. I know how he can improve and become important for us,” said the Italian.

“I would like always something more because for us this level of performance is enough but I think he can reach a higher level and to reach that level he can play better, he can push more and more.

“I would like him to start the game in the beginning not in the second half or after 20 minutes and I will tell him my opinion.”

De Zerbi admits he had never heard of Joao Pedro when the club lined up the £30million summer transfer from Watford.

“The credit for Joao Pedro is to the club. The recruitment department told me the name of Joao, I didn’t know Joao before he came with us,” he added.

Pedro’s goals in the final 19 minutes were decisive as his side had recovered from Jan Paul Van Hecke’s own goal to lead through Pervis Estupinan and Lewis Dunk only for Lewis Baker’s penalty to put the outcome in some doubt.

Asked how important it was to avoid a replay, De Zerbi said: “Especially if you think how many games we played from the beginning of the season.

“To reach the last 16 of the Europa League and to win today means we have to play three games less and that’s important in this moment if you consider how many players we have .”

This was Stoke head coach Steven Schumacher’s first defeat in his fifth match in charge and he admits he is still learning about his squad.

“Whenever you play against a Premier League team you learn lessons about what you have got,” he said.

“I learned our team has got character. When we conceded a goal just before half-time it could have knocked the wind out of us but it didn’t and we caused Brighton a few problems.

“The difference is in the big moments they punish you.”

Jon Dahl Tomasson lauded “incredible” Sammie Szmodics after his first career hat-trick helped Blackburn defeat Cambridge 5-2 in the FA Cup third round.

United threatened to shock their Sky Bet Championship hosts and twice went ahead, first through Jack Lankester’s curling finish and then Sullay Kaikai’s emphatic volley. In between those goals, Szmodics swept home and he brought Rovers level again with a typically clinical strike.

The Championship’s leading scorer took his remarkable tally for the season to 19 in first-half stoppage time with a first-time volley from close range, showing the confidence of a player in the form of his life.

Arnor Sigurdsson’s close-range finish midway through the second half and Harry Leonard’s powerful late header rounded off the scoring, but the star man was Szmodics and Rovers boss Tomasson praised his performance.

He said: “The development of Sammie is great to see. He’s a team player, he’s a goalscorer. He’s very good in doing all the things we want, then of course scoring that amount of goals and also even getting assists.

“And still the good thing is, he can miss a chance and it doesn’t matter, he can go on. Great character and great to see him getting the ball with him at home.

“After Christmas last season, I think he’s been really good for Rovers and after the summer holiday, he’s been extremely good. He’s also added those goals.

“We always know he can score goals but he’s not used to playing a lot of games at this level first of all, he played with Peterborough but not a lot. The way he’s scoring goals, the confidence he’s playing with and the role he takes as one of the senior players is quite incredible.”

Cambridge manager Neil Harris was disappointed with the manner of the goals his League One side conceded.

He said: “The game went how we expected it to go. Sammie Szmodics is a top player. We didn’t help ourselves at times with conceding goals, individual errors again which have cost us and we have to cut them out because when you play against good sides, you can’t give them a leg up.

“In the first half, our shape was excellent, our press was excellent, we regained the ball and used it really well, scored two really good goals.

“But you can’t give goals to these teams. You can’t give opportunities in the box to these teams because they are just too clinical. That’s my only frustration is that we didn’t help ourselves.

“I’m pleased with some aspects of the game, pleased for the two guys who got on the scoresheet, but ultimately, if you score two goals away from home in the FA Cup you don’t expect to lose by three goals.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell hailed a superb team performance as the Grecians climbed out of the League One relegation zone with a deserved 2-1 win over Carlisle at St James Park.

Second-half goals from Reece Cole and Sonny Cox gave Exeter a 2-0 lead after they had been in almost complete control.

Dan Butterworth then pulled one back for Carlisle in the 86th minute, which led to a nervy finale, but City held on for a deserved three points.

“I thought we were outstanding right from the start, and in complete control of the game,” Caldwell said.

“We spoke yesterday about how we needed to dominate possession, but that possession had to have a purpose to it and I thought it did from the very first minute.

“Luke (Harris) almost scored with his first touch in a red and white shirt, but they are always a threat with the long balls they play and from set-pieces and throw-ins. We had to defend those moments, but I thought we totally dominated the first half and created chances without scoring, which can be frustrating.

“We added some bits in the second half and scored two brilliant goals. It could have been easier, but I think that is the next step for us because it could have been three, it could have been four, and they scored a brilliant goal when he hits one on the half volley from 20 yards.

“We need to be better and we had to dig in and defend the onslaught that would come. But it’s a fantastic three points and I think a fantastic performance and a big step forward.”

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson was critical of his side’s display and said: “I am hugely disappointed, obviously, to have not taken anything out of the game. Unfortunately, we only started playing with any meaning when we were 2-0 down and it doesn’t matter where you are playing, you can’t do that.

“You have to have a belief that you are going to win the game and I don’t think we had that. I think we turned up today expecting it was going to happen and, unfortunately, you can’t do that. You have to be right from the first whistle.

“I thought we had chances today, particularly towards the end of the game, but if you don’t do those simple, basic things well – tracking runners, getting shots in, passing the ball better and locking on to players – you don’t get anything out of the game.

“We got into some good areas but our quality was really poor. It is really simple, basic things and everybody has to take it, everybody has to deal with it. We have to be better because this was a game there to be won today and I think we have let Exeter off the hook.”