Premier League Portsmouth sneaked into the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday after an own-goal in the third minute of stoppage time by Preston defender Darren Carter secured a 1-0 victory at Deepdale.
England goalkeeper David James had earlier kept Portsmouth in the Cup with two superb second-half saves, including one from a penalty.
In Sunday's other fifth round tie, Pompey's top-flight rivals Middlesbrough were forced into a replay after a goalless draw away to Championship side Sheffield United.
That looked like being the outcome for Pompey against Championship strugglers Preston until Carter put through his own goal as he tried to clear a corner which had appeared to be handled, albeit accidentally, by Portsmouth's Hermann Hreidarsson.
"The Cup's about winning, however you do it, whenever you do it, the last minute is fine for us," James said.
Portsmouth failed to make the most of their first-half chances.
They were almost made to pay dearly by a side battling to avoid relegation to the third-tier of English soccer.
On the hour mark, defender Sylvain Distin clipped Preston's Billy Jones inside the box and the home side had a penalty.
But James, guessing correctly, dived to his right to block Simon Whaley's spot-kick.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp admitted his team had been fortunate to escape a replay against a Preston side that belied their league position.
"They didn't deserve to lose that game. If they played like that every week they wouldn't be in a relegation battle," he said.
At Bramall Lane, Sheffield United striker James Beattie hit the outside of the post for the hosts just before half-time with a free-kick from the edge of the box.
Boro almost won the game in stoppage time when defender Emanuel Pogatetz's close-range header was blocked in what was Kevin Blackwell's first match as Sheffield United manager following his appointment as successor to Bryan Robson.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out