Hull Made To Pay For Parking the Bus At Arsenal

Arsenal 2 - Hull 1 (FA Cup, March 17, 2009) Arsenal started at sixes and sevens and were duly punished by a more aggressive Hull side when Nicky Barmby picked up possession in the box and saw his shot take a massive deflection off Djourou and loop over Fabianski.

The Tigers were good value for their lead at the break (first half highlights here) but in the second half they parked their bus and invited wave after wave of Arsenal attacks. In the 74th minute the Gunners got their reward, Bendtner hustled and bustled to send a cross across the box.  Arshavin cut the ball back and Robin van Persie struck home the equaliser.  And the turnaround was complete six minutes from time, a free-kick was launched into the box, Djourou beat Myhill to the ball and his flick on was converted by (an offside?) William Gallas.

Manchester United are the 6/5 favourites for the FA Cup, Chelsea 9/4, Arsenal 3/1 and Everton the long shot at 7/1. (Full FA Cup odds here.)

Toulouse 1* - Lille 1 (Pens. 7-6) (Coupe De France, March 16, 2009) After 90 goalless minutes Michel Bastos fired Lille into the lead in the first half of extra time. But the visitors could not hold on as Emerson got an unfortunate touch when trying to intercept an attack to equalise in the 110th minute.

Sedan 1 - Guingamp 3 (Coupe De France, March 16, 2009) Allart swept Sedan into an 18th minute lead after the Guingamp keeper had made a valiant double save, but it was all-square at the break as Eduardo ghosted in at the back post to head home the equaliser from a free-kick. Early in the second half Guingamp had Kone were sent off, but despite their numerical disadvantage, Oruma gave them the lead before Eduardo ran from inside his own half to score a brilliant third and kill the match.

Parma 1 - Mantova 0 (Serie B, March 16, 2009) Leon scored a controversial 82nd minute winner as Parma appeared to have a player in an offside position interfering with the play. Mantova reacted badly with Rizza and Aversa, both being sent off late.

Brescia 1 - Modena 1 (Serie B, March 16, 2009)

Legia Warszawa 3 - Stal Sanok 1 (Puchar Polski, March 17, 2009) Rocki fired Legia into the lead with an effort that squirmed under the Stal keeper only for Borowczyk to slide in the leveller after 23 minutes. Legia continued to press and Paluchowski scored on the stroke of halftime with Rzezniczak grabbing a last-gasp third.

Ruch Chorzow 3 - Zaglebie Lubin 0 (Puchar Polski, March 17, 2009)

Shandong Luneng 5 - Sriwijaya 0 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) Braces from Li Jinyu and Mrdakovic Miljan helped the Chinese outfit collect their first win in the ACL, Han Peng also finding the back of the net as Shandong completely outclassed the visitors.

Newcastle Jets 2 - Ulsan Hyundai 0 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) Sasho Petrovski gave Newcastle the lead after just 15 minutes when he latched onto Ljubo Milicevic’s ball into the penalty area before sweeping home a left-footed effort from eight yards out. Petrovski then notched a header just before the break, and the South Koreans were unable to respond.

FC Seoul 2 - Gamba Osaka 4 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) Gamba took the lead after just 13 minutes when Masato Yamazaki scored with a fine effort from the edge of the box. Jung Jo-gook to equalised nine minutes after the break before Brazilian striker Leandro scored a hat-trick to put the match to bed. Lee Sang-hyub’s 90th minute goal was nothing more than scant consolation.

Pakhtakor Tashkent 1 - Al-Hilal 1 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) Radoi’s 56th minute penalty for Al-Hilil was cancelled out sixty seconds later by Tadzhiev’s header fir the Uzebkis.

Al Sharjah 0 - Al Gharrafa 2 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) The Qataris won with goals in each half from Kamil and Clemerson.

Saba Battery 0 - Al-Ahli 0 (Asian Champions League, March 17, 2009) Saba enjoyed the majority of possession in Iran but failed to capitalise on their few chances.

Nagoya 0 - Beijing Guoan 0 (Asian Champions League, March 16, 2009)

Chivas USA 2 - Houston Dynamo 2 (Pre-season Friendly, March 13, 2009) Shavar Thomas and Atiba Harris scored for Chivas, who also had Ricardo Clark sent off with the referee taking hands-on control of the situation, pushing the offender out of the way before the Houston side could take reprisals.