Murphy snatches victory

27th August 2008

Danny Murphy scored an injury-time winner as Fulham avoided a second-round Carling Cup upset at the hands of Leicester on Wednesday night.

Zoltan Gera grabbed his first goal for the Cottagers (31) but the Foxes - eager for some good news following their relegation to Coca-Cola League One - stunned their hosts at the start of the second half.

Paul Dickov equalised immediately after the break and Andy King put Leicester ahead two minutes later. It looked like that would be enough but Jimmy Bullard levelled from 25 yards (83) and Murphy let fly from the same distance two minutes into added time to earn Roy Hodgson's side an unlikely 3-2 victory.

Carlos Villanueva put in an impressive debut as Blackburn cruised into the third round with a 4-1 victory over Grimsby.

Tom Newey put the visitors into a shock lead by curling in a free-kick after only seven minutes, but Villanueva equalised (18) and by half-time it was 3-1 with Matt Derbyshire (32) and Brett Emerton (48) netting.

Derbyshire grabbed the fourth 10 minutes after the break and was only denied a hat-trick by an offside flag.

It looked like there would be an upset at the Galpharm Stadium when Michael Flynn (34) gave Coca-Cola League One Huddersfield the lead against Sheffield United.

It stayed that way until eight minutes from time when Darius Henderson equalised (82), and the turnaround was complete a minute later as substitute Kyle Naughton grabbed the winner to give the Blades a 2-1 victory.

Elsewhere, West Ham needed extra-time to see off League Two strugglers Macclesfield 4-1 at Upton Park, while Sunderland also needed an added half an hour as they defeated Nottingham Forest 2-1 at the City Ground.