Coventry and Crystal Palace both found their goalscoring touch as they cruised into the third round of the Worthington Cup with emphatic wins tonight. Gary McSheffrey led the Coventry procession with a hat-trick and Jay Bothroyd came off the bench to add two more as the Sky Blues put hapless Rushden and Diamonds to the sword with a crushing 8-0 win at Highfield Road. It was a record defeat for Third Division Diamonds, who also had two men sent off to compound their misery.
Palace went through after a second-half blitz at Selhurst Park comprehensively accounted for Division Two strugglers Cheltenham. Goals from Dele Adebola (2), Dougie Freedman (2), Hayden Mullins, Tony Popovic and a Richard Walker own goal gave Trevor Francis' side a 7-0 resounding win.
Nottingham Forest came unstuck on their own patch as they crashed out 2-1 to Walsall at the City Ground. Two goals in the space of three minutes midway through the first half were enough to send the Saddlers through at the expense of a side seven points above them in the First Division table. Jorge Leitao drilled home the first with 21 minutes on the clock before Brazilian forward Junior followed up with a left-footed effort. David Johnson's 13th goal in as many games gave the home side a 79th-minute lifeline but Walsall held on.
Derby also endured a miserable night as they went down 2-1 to Second Division Oldham after extra time at Pride Park. Danny Higginbotham struck from the spot after 17 minutes to open the scoring for The Rams, but Oldham hit back with an equaliser from David Eyres a minute later. The game went yto extra-time and Clyde Wijnhard converted a penalty in the 95th minute to put The Latics in-front, and Mart Poom was sent-off with 15 minutes to go to complete a miserable night for John Gregory's men.
Leicester scraped through by the skin off their teeth after a dramatic late equaliser took Sheffield Wednesday to extra time at Hillsborough before going through 2-1. The Owls dominated for most of the game and could have been 3-0 up had Gerald Sibon converted the two good chances which followed his deserved 32nd-minute opener. Despite Matt Elliott striking a post, Leicester struggled to gain a footing until Muzzy Izzet managed to tuck home an injury-time free-kick. The 20-yard strike deflated the Owls and they went on to lose 2-1 after Trevor Benjamin bagged the Foxes' winner in the 98th minute.
In the night's other games, Aston Villa eased through with a 3-0 win over Luton Town, Bolton were stunned with a 1-0 defeat to Lancashire rivals Bury, Birmingham held on to beat Leyton Orient 3-2, West Brom fell to a 3-1 defeat away to Wigan and Southampton hammered Tranmere 6-1.
Filed by Shane Murray
