Tom Bassam 

Brentford v Plymouth, Chelsea v Morecambe, and more: FA Cup third round – clockwatch

Join Tom Bassam for updates from the 3pm kick-offs in the third round of the FA Cup
  
  

Celebrations for Plymouth after Morgan Whittaker breaks the deadlock for Plymouth against Brentford.
Celebrations for Plymouth after Morgan Whittaker breaks the deadlock for Plymouth against Brentford. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Equalisers at the Stadium of Light and Select Car Leasing Stadium

We could get a couple of extra times here. Lewis Wing has levelled for Reading against Burnley and Milan Aleksić has got Sunderland’s equaliser against Stoke, both are now 1-1.

Brentford 0-1 Plymouth (Whittaker 82)

This is wonderful from Morgan Whittaker, who mazily dribbles across the box and looks to have held it too long but then unleashes a low, piercing shot and we have a potential shock on our hands. Fortress Gtech breached.

Updated

Goal! Chelsea 5-0 Morecambe (Felix 77)

This is now a rout.

Chelsea 4-0 Morecambe (Felix 75)

Felix converts a rapid Chelsea break with a smart low finish from the edge of the box.

Updated

Norwich 0-4 Brighton (March 74)

Lovely story for Solly March, who spent 14 months out with a serious knee injury. He gets on to Brajan Gruda’s cute through and sweeps it home first-time with a lovely curling effort from just inside the box.

Goal! Chelsea 3-0 Morecambe (Adarabioyo 70)

Two-goal Tosin! This one is great strike, Adarabioyo curls home from 20 yards – no deflection this time. Tie over.

Updated

Goal! Reading 0-1 Burnley (Foster 71)

This is scrappy, but Lyle Foster makes it count as he converts Joe Bauress’s dangerous cross from the right at the second attempt.

Updated

Goal! Exeter 3-1 Oxford (Harper 64)

Here we go, the magic is alive at St James Park. Vincent Harper makes it 3-1 with a fine low shot as he cut in from the edge of the box. Championship Oxford currently crashing out.

Nottingham Forest 2-0 Luton (Sosa 68)

A rapid burst from Forest gets its reward as Ramon Sosa is able to slide on to Jota Silva tantalising ball across goal. That’s a classic Forest goal under Nuno, back front in no time.

Updated

Goal Norwich 0-3 Brighton (Enciso 59)

Oh dear, Kellen Fisher. The substitute presents a gift to Julio Enciso as he dithers on the ball and turns it over the spiky Paraguayan. It’s a lovely finish from Enciso who curls it home past a out of position Long from a tight angle.

Chelsea 2-0 Morecambe. Felix goes close to getting a Chelsea third as he curls an effort from the edge of the box just over the bar.

Norwich 0-2 Brighton. Minteh should make it 3-0 to the visitors as he gets through one-on-one but overruns it and allows George Long to gather easily.

Goal! Chelsea 2-0 Morecambe (Nkunku 50)

All a bit too easy. Nkunku gets his 13th goal of the season as Marc Cucurella gets to the byline and pulls it back, Chelsea’s initial effort is saved but after missing from the spot earlier, this time the Frenchman converts.

Updated

I missed the last goal in Leicester’s thumping win over QPR. Wout Faes made it 6-2 with strike deep into added time.

Goal! Bournemouth 4-1 West Brom (Semenyo 47)

David Brooks is running this game. This time he plays in Antoine Semenyo and again it’s a fabulous finish, fired high into the net from the right-hand side of the box.

Updated

Peeeep!

We are back underway!

Justin Madson is playing VAR because the Stockley Park lads have a day off today. he writes in:

It was noted that Harry Burgoyne stepped off his line early and should have been retaken. Massive miss by the referees.

Thanks Justin, you might be in a very narrow band of people who think so, but not because you’re wrong.

A follow up on US pharmaceutical ads (I love the direction these blogs go in). Eric Peterson writes in:

Good morning from Pittsburgh! Vastly underrated entertainment these one minute TV pharma ads. Seven seconds of “ask your doctor about…” (because you can’t specifically tell the customer to buy your drug), and 53 seconds of the legally mandated list of absolutely every side effect the drug could cause, ironically underscored by soothing music and happy images of family time or picnics or romantic dinners or the like. Spectacular.

Sounds ridiculous, but yet baffling common.

Just a note to say we’ve not had any updates from the League Two matches because they aren’t happening. Wimbledon v Cheltenham fell foul of a frozen pitch and Swindon v Crewe has been suspended due to visibility issues at the County Ground.

Fa Cup third round: half-time scores

Bournemouth 3-1 West Brom

Brentford 0-0 Plymouth Argyle

Chelsea 1-0 Morecambe

Exeter City 2-1 Oxford

Norwich 0-2 Brighton

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Luton

Reading 0-0 Burnley

Sunderland 0-1 Stoke

Goal! Bournemouth 3-1 West Brom (Ouattara 44)

Clinical from Ouattara to make it 3-1, as he steps on to Brooks’ well-timed pass to slot past Joe Wildsmith.

Goal! Norwich 0-2 Brighton (Rutter 45+2)

That’s a sore one for Rutter but when he gets his half-time cup of tea he’ll be able to enjoy it. Yankuba Minteh slides in the forward and he fires home from a tight angle. The Frenchman is injured as he follows through looks OK after a bit of treatment.

Updated

Goal! Exeter City 2-1 Oxford (Mitchell 40)

Well, well, well. Did someone say FA Cup shock? (I’m not sure this counts).

Goal! Nottingham Forest 1-0 Luton (Yates 40)

Ryan Yates times his run perfectly to get on the end of Sosa’s cross and the deadlock is broken.

Updated

Goal! Chelsea 1-0 Morecambe (Adarabioyo 39)

Tosin Adarabioyo is the unlikely first goalscorer and that’s dreadfully unlucky for the Morecambe keeper. Burgoyne looks to be getting to Tosin’s unremarkable shot from outside of the box but it takes a wicked deflection and bobbles in. Morecambe were holding put pretty comfortably, no longer.

Updated

Goal! Norwich 0-1 Brighton (Rutter 37)

This has been coming. After an early period where Norwich threatened, Brighton had taken control of this tie and have deserved lead through Georginio Rutter. The Frenchman gets up well to head home Joel Veltman’s cross from the right. Nervy Seagulls (me), can breathe a little easier.

Bournemouth 2-1 West Brom (Ouattara 34)

Kluivert turns provider, with Bournemouth rewarded for some patient buildup when Dango Ouattara is found with a clever reverse ball into the box and the Cherries frontman finds the net from a tight angle.

Updated

Chelsea 0-0 Morecambe. It’s still all square at the Bridge, the best hope of a goal at either end has been with hairy moments from the goalkeepers. For Morecambe, Burgoyne has been busy and made a couple of really good stops, the latest from a low Felix drive, but he’s also looked shaky with the ball at his feet. Jörgensen has been a bit more adventurous and on a couple of occasions almost coughed the ball up to Morecambe.

Goal! Bournemouth 1-1 West Brom (Kluivert 27)

Wonderful cross from David Brooks on the Bournemouth right goes all the way across the West Brom box and Justin Kluivert does really well to delicately guide his one-touch finish home under the crossbar. All about the ball from Brooks that goal, pure corridor of uncertainty stuff.

Goal! Leicester 5-2 QPR (Justin 63)

The goal-fest at the King Power surely has been settled now. Who had a James Justin brace on their bingo card? Patson Daka, who replaced Vardy, finds the full-back 12 yards out and Justin does the rest.

Goal! Exeter 1-1 Oxford (Mitchell 22)

The League One side have an equaliser via Demetri Mitchell.

Penalty saved! Chelsea 0-0 Morecambe (17)

Joao Felix retrieves a corner and tries to dink it back but Yann Songo’o, who looks like he’s trying to block a rugby union drop kick, blatantly handles. Christopher Nkunku smacks his spot kick to the keeper’s right but Harry Burgoyne makes a great save to keep it at 0-0.

Updated

Goal! Exeter 0-1 Oxford (Phillips 14)

Dane Scarlett leads a fast break and feeds Matt Phillips to fire home a left-footed shot from the middle of the box.

Goal! Bournemouth 0-1 West Brom (Taylor 14)

Caleb Taylor, who has just been recalled from a loan spell at Wycombe, gets to a rebound from John Swift’s free-kick and gives the manager-less Championship side a shock lead.

Updated

Goal! Leicester 4-2 QPR (Vardy 51, pen)

Mavididi is vying with Buonanotte for this MOTM trophy. The winger’s cross hits Harrison Ashby’s arm to earn his side a penalty, little doubt there. Vardy send the keeper the wrong way from the spot.

Updated

Chelsea 0-0 Morecambe. Ben Tollitt tests Filip Jörgensen in the Chelsea goal after some direct play from the League Two side. The Blues keeper didn’t gather it cleanly but the shot would have to have been a bit more wicked to go in from that angle, wide of the right hand side of the six-yard box.

Goal! Sunderland 0-1 Stoke (Cannon 4)

Do we have an early shock? As much as a Championship side beating another side in the same division would be a shock, the Black Cats are flying and Stoke, frankly, are not. Anyway Lewis Koumas drew a foul and Tom Cannon converts with a cool effort down the middle.

Updated

Peeeeeeeeep!

We are underway in the 3pm kick-offs!

Joe Pearson writes in (presumably from the US):

Hi Tom! Anybody in the US would recognise the Magic song as the soundtrack of Ozempic commercials, the diabetes drug that is now widely used for weight loss. Thanks for sticking it back in our heads.

That is a wonderful discovery for me. US pharmaceutical adverts are baffling to Europeans but that is an incredible song selection… ‘It’s hard to believe I’m eight stone’.

It’s nearly full-blown ‘magic’ time. We’re five minutes away from kick-off in the 3pm kick-offs.

Half-time: Leicester 3-2 QPR

Five goals and plenty of entertainment at the King Power. Leicester should be out of sight but seem hell bent on making this a game with some woeful concentration at the back.

Goal! Leicester 3-2 QPR (Kolli 45+2)

Game back on! QPR benefit from more sloppy Leicester defending and the visitors back in it on the stroke of half time. Kolli, who has been busy all half, pounces on a loose ball from Harry Winks and surges into the box before making a tricky finish look easy by slotting past Stolarczyk.

Updated

Team news: Reading v Burnley

Reading: Button, Abrefa, Dean, Bindon, Kanu, Savage, Wing, Rushesha, Knibbs, Smith, Wareham.

Subs: Pereira, Holzman, Senga-Ngoyi, Stickland, Ahmed, Wellens, Sackey, Borgnis, Osho.

Burnley: Hladky, Sonne, Worrall, Egan, Lucas Pires, Bauress, McDermott, Koleosho, Barnes, Foster, Rodriguez.

Subs: Green, Humphreys, Ekdal, Flemming, Laurent, Ndayishimiye, Delcroix, Veevers, Tweedy.

Updated

Goal! Leicester 3-1 QPR (Buonanotte 38)

Buonanotte has been the best player on the pitch and gets his goal from a move he starts. Picking it up in midfield, the Argentine No. 10 sweeps it wide to El Khannouss who hangs up an inviting cross for Buonanotte to head home.

Goal! Leicester 2-1 QPR (Mavididi 35)

QPR right back Harrison Ashby tries to cut inside Stephy Mavididi and has the ball nicked off him. Bilal El Khannouss picks it up and drives into the Hoops’ box before flicking it off to Mavididi place it home from the penalty spot.

Updated

Team news: Exeter v Oxford

Exeter: Whitworth, Fitzwater, Crama, Yfeko, McMillan, Jake Richards, Woods, Harper, Watts, Mitchell, Magennis.

Subs: MacDonald, Francis, Aitchison, Alli, Niskanen, Jones, Doyle, McDonald, Bird.

Oxford: Ingram, ter Avest, Long, Thorniley, Leigh, Sibley, McEachran, Phillips, El Mizouni, Dembele, Scarlett.

Subs: Cumming, Brown, Vaulks, Placheta, Matos, Goodrham, Rodrigues, Ferdinan, Kioso.

Team news: Brentford v Plymouth

Brentford: Valdimarsson, Roerslev, Kim, van den Berg, Henry, Jensen, Maghoma, Yarmolyuk, Damsgaard, Carvalho, Schade.

Subs: Flekken, Wissa, Mbeumo, Meghoma, Collins, Lewis-Potter, Konak, Yogane, Arthur.

Plymouth: Hazard, Palsson, Pleguezuelo, Galloway, Sorinola, Randell, Wright, Mumba, Whittaker, Baidoo, Roberts.

Subs: Grimshaw, Ogbeta, Szucs, Cissoko, Bundu, Puchacz, Gyabi, Al Hajj, Issaka.

Leicester 1-1 QPR. Jamie Vardy misses a huge chance to put the Foxes back in front, again Buonanotte is the creator. QPR then go up the other end and Rayan Kolli fires just over after Stolarczyk’s duff clearance.

Team news: Norwich v Brighton

Norwich: Long, Stacey, Cordoba, Doyle, Chrisene, Forson, McLean, Nunez, Schwartau, Dobbin, Crnac.

Subs: Gunn, Duffy, Hills, Mahovo, Fisher, Gordon, Hernandez, Myles, Sargent.

Brighton: Steele, Veltman, Webster, Van Hecke, Estupinan, Ayari, Baleba, Minteh, Enciso, Mitoma, Rutter

Subs: Verbruggen, March, Gruda, Adingra, Moder, Welbeck, O’Riley, McConville, Turns

Team news: Sunderland v Stoke

Sunderland: Moore, Hume, O’Nien, Hjelde, Alese, Jones, Neil, Mayenda, Rigg, Aouchiche, Connolly.

Subs: Nna Noukeu, Rusyn, Bellingham, Isidor, Abdul Samed, Mepham, Aleksic, Johnson, Ogunsuyi.

Stoke: Johansson, Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Stevens, Seko, Burger, Moran, Baker, Koumas, Cannon.

Subs: Bonham, Rose, Lawal, Gooch, Sidibe, Bae, Andre Vidigal, Tezgel, Ennis.

Goal! Leicester 1-1 QPR (Varane 18)

Ilias Chair is the first QPR player to test Jakub Stolarczyk, who saves well, but the Leicester keeper cannot do anything about Jonathan Varane’s effort. QPR had turned up the heat in the previous five minutes or so and after Harry Winks failed to clear, Varane gathered the ball and slammed it low and into the bottom corner from all of 25 yards.

Updated

Team news: Nottingham Forest v Luton

Nottingham Forest: Carlos Miguel, Toffolo, Boly, Morato, Alex, Moreira, Ward-Prowse, Jota Silva, Yates, Sosa, Awoniyi.

Subs: Sels, Anderson, Wood, Hudson-Odoi, Dominguez, Elanga, Danilo, Milenkovic, Abbott.

Luton: Kaminski, Walters, Holmes, McGuinness, Bell, Nakamba, Walsh, Jones, Dabo, Nelson, Morris.

Subs: Krul, Andersen, Krauss, Woodrow, Adebayo, Mpanzu, Clark, Brown, Hashioka.

Team news: Chelsea v Morecambe

Chelsea: Jorgensen, James, Adarabioyo, Disasi, Veiga, Lavia, Pedro Neto, Nkunku, Joao Felix, George, Guiu.

Subs: Sanchez, Colwill, Acheampong, Gusto, Cucurella, Fernandez, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson.

Morecambe: Burgoyne, Hendrie, Williams, Stott, Tutonda, White, Jones, Tollitt, Songo’o, Edwards, Dackers.

Subs: Scales, Adam Lewis, Taylor, Macadam, Hope, Angol, Slew, Paul Lewis, Dobson.

Goal! Leicester 1-0 QPR (Justin 8)

Facundo Buonanotte is restored to the Leicester starting XI and it is his ball that creates the goal, a clipped in set-piece that James Justin bundles home off his toe. QPR keeper Joe Walsh makes a mess of it to let the Leicester player get there ahead of him.

Updated

Team news: Bournemouth v West Brom

Bournemouth: Arrizabalaga, Hill, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Soler, Adams, Winterburn, Aarons, Brooks, Kluivert, Ouattara.

Subs: Dennis, Travers, Kerkez, Cook, Jebbison, Semenyo, Akinmboni, Kinsey-Wellings, Rees-Dottin.

West Brom: Wildsmith, Furlong, Holgate, Taylor, Styles, Mowatt, Racic, Fellows, Ahearne-Grant, Diangana, Swift.

Subs: Cann, Frabotta, Heggem, Diakite, Molumby, Johnston, Bostock, Wallace, Cole.

Leicester 0-0 QPR. It’s very misty at the King Power Stadium and from what I can tell not much as happened in the opening six minutes, but with visibility like this who can tell?

Updated

The other early kick-offs have all reached full-time, here are the scores:

Birmingham City 2-1 Lincoln City

Bristol City 1-2 Wolves

Middlesbrough 0-1 Blackburn Rovers

We have live updates from the closing stages of Liverpool v Accrington Stanley with Scott Murray here:

Leicester v QPR: Team news

First up we have that familiar 2pm kick-off Saturday kick-off, here are how the sides line up at the King Power:

Leicester: Stolarczyk, Justin, Coady, Kristiansen, Faes, Winks, Soumare, Buonanotte, El Khannous, Mavididi, Vardy.

Subs: Iversen, Okoli, Thomas, Choudhury, Skipp, De Cordova-Reid, McAteer, Ayew, Daka.

QPR: Walsh, Ashby, Edwards, Clarke-Salter, Paal, Varane, Field, Kolli, Madsen, Saito, Chair.

Subs: Nardi, Dunne, Fox, Colback, Dixon-Bonner, Morgan, Smyth, Lloyd, Frey.

Preamble

Perhaps Scottish glam rock band Pilot were not singing about the sunrise over Edinburgh, but the enduring appeal of the FA Cup when they wrote 1975 hit Magic - ‘Ho, ho, ho, it’s magic you know, never believe it’s not so…’

The message is clear, we just have to believe in the magic, never forget to reference it to and then it will survive. Nothing says ‘magic’ quite like a slate of Saturday 3pm games headlined by the Chelsea’s billionaire backups kicking the crap out of the club currently second bottom of the Football League (Morecambe) or Bournemouth v West Brom.

Still, we plod on and look further down the fixture list in search of an upset opportunity. Perhaps Exeter, currently mid-table in League One, can overcome Oxford United, who - remarkably - are currently in the second tier for the first time this millennium. What chance a new manager bounce at Plymouth as they take on Brentford? Seagull pessimism tells me Norwich have a chance against a Brighton team lacking a recognised striker, so there’s that. Nottingham Forest v Luton, the artist formerly known as a Premier League relegation scrap, now looks like a routine win for Nuno’s European hopefuls.

Replays are clearly no longer magic, but extra-time and penalties definitely are, so we might get some of those this afternoon which is – er – depressing fun.

As a seasoned FA Cup third round observer, all of this sarcastic lack of belief in the ‘magic’ will of course prove incorrect and you, lucky reader, will get to follow along an afternoon of shocks with me. Please get in touch with your observations from the cup or the very limited league action (League Two, we see you).

Team news shortly.

 

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