Third tier Leeds upsets Man United 1-0 in FA Cup

Leeds upsets Man United in FA Cup

LONDON — Underdog Leeds knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup in one of the competition’s biggest upsets on Sunday.

Jermaine Beckford’s 19th-minute goal at Old Trafford gave Leeds, the leader of the lower-level League One, a memorable victory at a stadium where it had not won since 1981.

Defending champion Chelsea outplayed Watford in a 5-0 victory to reach the fourth round.

Leeds became the first team to knock United out in the third round since Bournemouth in 1984, two years before Alex Ferguson took charge at Old Trafford. United has won the trophy five times under Ferguson and holds the record of 11 FA Cup triumphs overall.

A powerhouse team less than eight years ago, Leeds slipped through two relegations when it was hit by financial troubles. It has only one FA Cup title, in 1972, and now has another tough draw in the fourth round, away to Tottenham.

Ferguson was scathing about the performance from the Premier League champions of the past three seasons.

“I didn’t expect that,” Ferguson said. “I’m shocked at the performance. Leeds fought like tigers, you would expect that when they come to Old Trafford for an FA Cup tie. They are human beings, they can always surprise you.

“Beckford has got a lot of pace up front and we were caught napping, really. It was a bad goal for us to lose, but the whole performance was bad.”

Host Chelsea raced to a 3-0 lead inside the first 22 minutes at Stamford Bridge. Daniel Sturridge scored his first two goals for the club, Watford’s John Eustace put the ball into his own net and Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard added the others.

Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 at West Ham with late goals in a five-minute spell by Aaron Ramsey and Eduardo da Silva after Alessandro Diamanti had given the Hammers a halftime lead.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Lee McCulloch’s score earned Rangers a 1-1 draw at Celtic to keep his side seven points ahead of its traditional rival at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

After Celtic wasted a series of chances at Parkhead, Scott McDonald headed home a cross from Aidan McGeady in the 79th minute to give the home side the lead. But McCulloch leveled two minutes later.

Rangers has 44 points from 19 games, while Celtic has 37 with a match in hand.

American Maurice Edu started on the bench and was went on after only 13 minutes because of an injury to Nacho Novo.

Hibernian and Hearts drew 1-1 in Sunday’s other game, an Edinburgh derby marred by two red cards and crowd control trouble.

Gordon Smith gave Hearts the lead in the final minute of the first half and a Hearts fan was ejected after a flare was thrown as the players left the field.

Anthony Stokes equalized for the home side in the 54th minute and, three minutes later, Hearts’ Ruben Palazuelos and Darren McCormack of Hibs were sent off for head-butting each other.

Hibernian remained third with 33 points and Hearts stayed fifth with 24.