Carling Cup round-up: Peter Crouch made the most of only his third start of the season by claiming a clinical hat-trick as Tottenhameased past Preston5-1 and into the last 16. Harry Redknapp made seven changes for the third-round tie and Crouch emerged as the prime beneficiary as his predatory strikes took his season tally to five.
He made the most of his recall in the 14th minute when he dispatched Gareth Bale’s deep cross with a fine volley and Jermain Defoe effectively put Preston to bed with a predatory header seven minutes before half-time.
With 13 minutes remaining, Crouch tapped home Aaron Lennon’s low cross to cap a fine night for Spurs, who were given several scares by Alan Irvine’s high-flying Championship outfit.
Preston lacked nothing in spirit, and pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute through substitute Chris Brown, but Spurs substitute Robbie Keane added a fourth for Spurs with three minutes remaining and Crouch cheekily completed his hat-trick in injury time.
Danny Welbeck's second-half goal proved enough to send 10-man defending champions Manchester Unitedthrough with a 1-0 win over Wolves.
Even with a man extra following Fabio’s dismissal for deliberately bringing down Michael Kightly after half an hour, Wolves were able to make little impact at Old Trafford.
Welbeck won the match by finishing off a flowing move midway through the second half, tucking his shot comfortably past Marcus Hahnemann.
Stephen Ireland went off injured as Manchester Cityrequired extra-time to overcome the stubborn resistance of Fulham2-1 at Eastlands.
Ireland limped out of the action 15 minutes from the end with the sides deadlocked on 1-1 after Gareth Barry had cancelled out Zoltan Gera’s opener.
With precious few scoring opportunities, it fell to Kolo Toure to decide the tie with his first goal since his big-money move from Arsenal.
Chelseamidfielder Joe Cole returned from his long-term knee injury to help defeat QPR1-0 and send the Premier League leaders into the fourth round.
The 27-year-old, named by manager Carlo Ancelotti as skipper for the evening, was playing in his first match since January and set up Salomon Kalou’s winner at Stamford Bridge.
Ahead of the tie, the future of Flavio Briatore as QPR’s owner has been uncertain following his role in Formula One’s race-fixing scandal — but Jim Magilton’s men could not give him something to smile about despite putting the hosts under pressure at times.
Gabriel Agbonlahor ensured Aston Villaavoided more Carling Cup humiliation with his third-minute goal sufficient to overcome Cardiff1-0 at Villa Park.
Villa had crashed out of the competition to lower-league opposition in three of the previous four seasons.
But Agbonlahor continued his hot scoring streak after linking up with fellow striker John Carew to seal a spot in the fourth round.
Evertonwere barely extended in an emphatic 4-0 defeat of under-strength Hulltonight. The tie was effectively settled in the opening 24 minutes as the Toffees powered ahead at the KC Stadium with goals from Ayegbeni Yakubu, Jo and Dan Gosling.
David Moyes’ men, finding their form after a poor start to the season, then eased off but took their goal tally to 11 in three games as Leon Osman added a fourth after 57 minutes.
Hull offered little although Kamel Ghilas, one of their better performers on a lacklustre night, hit the post in the search for a late consolation.
