Heroes and Villains: Cup magic continues and Sherwood inspires Villa

It was certainly a sensational weekend of FA Cup clashes, with Tim Sherwood rallying his new team to glory, Yakubu rolling back the years to stun Derby County and poor defending costing Sunderland yet again. Check out who made our list of heroes and villains!

Cup magic
There was plenty of magic in this week’s set of fifth round encounters, with lower league sides causing upsets against Premier League giants. Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers hammered Mark Hughes’ Stoke City 4-1, with Josh King hitting a fantastic 20-minute hat-trick to help stun the Potters.

Elsewhere, League One Bradford City toppled Gus Poyet’s struggling Sunderland 2-0, with the bantams reaching their first quarter-final since 1976. On Valentine’s weekend, who said romance was dead?

Bradford are 66/1 with Coral to claim a historic FA Cup triumph this year.

Yakubu
Reading’s January signing and former top-flight hitman Yakubu came off the bench to score his first goal and secure a 2-1 victory for the Royals over Championship promotion hopefuls Derby County. Hal Robson-Kanu had given the visitors an advantage before Darren Bent netted his fifth strike in five games to level, before ‘the Yak’ fired Steve Clarke’s men into the quarter-finals.

Tim Sherwood
Newly appointed Aston Villa manager Sherwood watched his side take on Leicester City from the stands. However, after an inspirational half-time team talk, the former Tottenham boss saw his men transform their play and secure a place in this season’s quarter-final with a 2-1 triumph, thanks to strikes from Leonardo Bacuna and Scott Sinclair.

Morgan Amalfitano
West Ham United were thrashed 4-0 by top-flight relegation-strugglers West Bromwich Albion, as Sam Allardyce’s men crashed out of the cup. Attacking midfield maestro Amalfitano was introduced on the hour mark in a bid to revive the hapless Hammers, but instead was sent off for pushing old Baggies teammate Chris Brunt in the face, moments before Saido Berahino wrapped up proceedings with his side’s fourth goal.

John O’Shea
Gus Poyet’s men were hoping for further cup success to help banish their previous Premier League form, as a relegation battle looms large. However, only three minutes into Sunderland’s clash with Bradford, the visitors’ defensive frailties came flooding back.