2228: Okey dokey, I'm off. Sorry again for the slow start tonight. Hopefully, it won't put you off being back tomorrow for more from the Carling Cup, including Arsenal v Liverpool.

2223: Stand-in keeper Brad Guzan is the Villa hero, saving three of the four penalties in the shootout as well as another from Kenwyne Jones in the second half. Ashley Young tucks away the winning spot-kick to send Villa into the quarter-finals.

2221: Those Sunderland fans who haven't already drifted off after those two misses see Steed Malbranque score his - and then Craig Gordon save from Gabby Agbonlahor. Now 2-1 to Villa.

2220: Andy Reid and Lorik Cana have both had their penalties saved by Villa keeper Brad Guzan. John Carew and James Collins have scored theirs to make it 2-0 to Villa.

2216: Kieran Richardson squanders a late chance to win it for Sunderland - so it's penalty time.

2212: Real Madrid, who have Benzema, Guti, Raul, Diarra and Van der Vaart in their starting line-up are now 4-0 down against Alcorcon/Bristol Rovers in the Copa del Rey. It's a two-legged tie, but still...

2208: And the breaking news keeps coming: Sir Alex Ferguson says Gary Neville deserved his red card. I'll give you a few minutes to pick yourself off the floor.

2204: BREAKING NEWS Newcastle appoint Chris Hughton as manager on an 18-month contract. The club is no longer for sale.

2202: I can't see the game at the Stadium of Light, but it doesn't sound like we're missing much, does it? Kenwyne Jones could have put the poor punters out of their misery in the second half, but his weak penalty was saved.

From Ben via text on 81111: "Stadium of Light... want to leave but the man leaning on me is asleep, I may join him."

From Mack M, Stadium of Light, via text on 81111: "If I ever say I'm going to watch Aston Villa again, you have my permission to kill me. Tedium rules."

2153: Holders Manchester United, last year's beaten finalists Tottenham, along with Blackburn and Portsmouth, are in the hat for Saturday's quarter-final draw. Sunderland and Aston Villa still battling it out to join them. Scunthorpe, who play Manchester City tomorrow, are the last surviving Football League club.

2146: They're all talking about it over on 606 so you may as well know that Real Madrid are losing 3-0 against Segunda B side Alcorcon in the Copa del Rey. An astonishing scoreline. A bit like Liverpool losing to Bristol Rovers?

Football League and Scottish Cup Danny: Rampant Leeds made short work of Bristol Rovers tonight. The leaders cruised to a 4-0 win, they go four points clear at the top of League One and they become the first team to stop the Pirates' run of scoring in every game so far this season.

Football League and Scottish Cup Danny: In the Co-operative Insurance Cup, it's finished Dundee 1-3 Rangers thanks to a late Gers goal from teenager John Fleck. They're in the semi-finals and they'll be joined by St Mirren, who beat Motherwell 3-0 and St Johnstone, who held on for a 2-1 win over Dundee United, despite a late goal from Prince Buaben.

From elldorado89 on Twitter: "Re 2111: Ctrl Alt De Laet."

2135: FULL TIME Sunderland 0-0 Aston Villa
Extra time anyone?

2134: Ben Foster is about to take a goalkick for Manchester United when two Barnsley fans run onto the pitch, nick the ball and stick it away. "Why doesn't it count?" asks Mark Robins. Hilarious. Although not really.

Football League and Scottish Cup Danny: St Johnstone seem assured of a place in the last four of the Co-op Insurance Cup after Darren Dods' own goal puts them 2-0 up against Dundee United. Likewise St Mirren. Stephen Craigan puts through his own net to put them 3-0 up against Motherwell. Three cup ties, an own goal in each, symmetry fans.

Blackburn goal: Handball by Krystian Pearce and Nikola Kalinic converts the penalty for his first goal for Blackburn.

Blackburn goal: Nikola Kalinic slides the pass into the path of Benny McCarthy for an easy finish. And now Rovers have a penalty...

Portsmouth goal: Pompey just can't stop scoring in the Carling Cup. That's now seven in two games. Glenn Whelan slips in midfield and Aaron Mokoena capitalises, providing the through-ball for sub Kanu to tease the keeper before slotting in.

2126: MISSED PENALTY But they don't take it. Penalty was given for a handball by Carlos Cuellar, but Kenwyne Jones sidefoots it gently into Villa keeper Brad Guzan's hands.

2124: There's not much going at the Stadium of... PENALTY! Sunderland have the chance to go ahead...

From Pauljomo79 on 606: "Re 2111: ...better Laet than Neville!"

Football League and Scottish Cup Danny: No doubts now for Leeds as Jermaine Beckford puts them 3-0 up at Bristol Rovers, demonstrating some outrageous skill on the way. And Steven Anderson has put St Johnstone 1-0 up against Dundee United, with just 19 minutes to go.

Tottenham goal: Tim Howard saves Robbie Keane's penalty. Howard then saves follow-ups from Keane, David Bentley and Gareth Bale but is finally beaten at the fourth attempt by Robbie Keane.

Blackburn goal: Michel Salgado bursts into the box and squeezes a shot in at James McKeown's near post. The sub keeper might have done better. That's Salgado's first goal for Blackburn though.

Football League and Scottish Cup Danny: League One leaders Leeds look to be well on the way to another three points. Sam Vokes nets to put them 2-0 up at Bristol Rovers - victory puts Leeds four points clear. Meanwhile Jack Ross makes it St Mirren 2-0 Motherwell in the Co-op Ins Cup.

2111: Ritchie de Laet replaces Michael Owen. Still. Better Laet than never.

Peterborough goal: Ten-man Posh equalise. George Boyd crashes a shot past keeper Jason Brown from the edge of the area to equalise. Right into the top corner - his ninth of the season.

Portsmouth goal: Stoke goalkeeper Steve Simonsen drops Michael Brown's cross under pressure from Younes Kaboul and the impressive Frederic Piquionne is on hand to stab home from close range.

Gary Neville wins the ball but then follows through high on Adam Hammill. Chris Foy whips out the red card straight away. Did Neville mean that? Not sure...

Man Utd goal: That's a goal that might torment Fabio Capello. Michael Owen ducks between two defenders, gets into the box and appears to surprise the keeper with the early finish, slotting it right-footed into the corner. World class.

2100: Rangers get a goal completely out of the blue when Dundee defender Gary McKenzie heads a cross from Steven Whittaker into his own net and it's now Dundee 1-2 Rangers.

Portsmouth goal: Danny Webber cuts in from the left and lets fly from the edge of the box. Webber has scored two goals for Pompey, both in the Carling Cup. Just like Frederic Piquionne in fact.

2056: Zoran Tosic replaces Danny Welbeck for Manchester United. Welbeck, who has had a decent evening, appears to have a slight injury. Serbian Tosic, who cost £16.3m with fellow midfielder Adem Ljajic in 2008, makes his 11th appearance for Fergie's lot.

2051: The 7.45pm kick-offs are back under way - and Michael Owen misses a glorious chance to put Man United 2-0 up. He's one on one with the keeper but shanks it wide from eight yards with his left foot.

Blackburn goal: Republic of Ireland midfielder Steven Reid, back in the Blackburn line-up after his knee injury, loses his footing as he takes the penalty but still sticks it past substitute keeper James McKeown to put Blackburn in control.

2044: RED CARD Peterborough (Joe Lewis)
Peterborough and England Under-21 keeper Joe Lewis is on his way after bringing down Morten Gamst Pedersen. That's the first red card of Lewis's career.

From teme44 on 606: "I love Man Utd formation tonight! It's young it's innovative it's risky but so so beautiful. Thank you Sir Alex. Welbeck has been a best player so far and Rafael has amazing confidence in central midfield."

From peg_leg5125 on Twitter: "Please turn live text off again Everton were doing fine till you came back on lol."

2036: Just to bring you up to date with some action north of the border. Rangers led 1-0 at Dundee after Steven Whittaker's header, but Dundee levelled when striker Leigh Griffiths curled in a fantastic free-kick from 22 yards. And St Mirren lead Motherwell 1-0 thanks to Michael Higdon's goal. And in League One, leaders Leeds are 1-0 up at Bristol Rovers thanks to Jermaine Beckford's early goal.

Tottenham goal: David Bentley - who? - provides the cross for Tom Huddlestone to volley in the opener after a decent spell of pressure for Spurs.

2030: Everton defender Sylvain Distin's clearance goes straight to Robbie Keane but the Spurs striker only finds the woodwork.

2023 AN APOLOGY Sorry for the false start to this evening's live text. Very, very sorry. Hopefully, we're up and running now.

Peterborough goal: Good work from Tommy Rowe on the left and his cross is headed in by Chris Whelpdale for the Posh equaliser.

Portsmouth goal: Nadir Belhadj crosses from the left for Frederic Piquionne to head past Stoke keeper Steve Simonsen. That's the Frenchman's second goal for Pompey, both in the Carling Cup.

Blackburn goal: Flu-ridden Rovers go ahead through Morten Gamst Pedersen's free-kick.

Man Utd goal: Anderson's corner, an unmarked Danny Welbeck's header. Fairytale crushed in six minutes...

1945: Three games are under way.

TEAMS Tottenham v Everton
Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Bassong, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Bentley, Huddlestone, Palacios, Bale, Keane, Pavlyuchenko. Subs: Button, Jenas, Naughton, Corluka, Dervite, Parrett, Kane.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Heitinga, Distin, Neill, Cahill, Gosling, Rodwell, Fellaini, Saha, Yakubu. Subs: Nash, Jo, Coleman, Duffy, Agard, Baxter, Wallace.

TEAMS Blackburn v Peterborough
Blackburn: Brown, Salgado, Jones, Givet, Olsson, Hoilett, Reid, Emerton, Pedersen, McCarthy, Kalinic. Subs: Robinson, Jacobsen, Nelsen, Dunn, Roberts, Andrews, Van Heerden.
Peterborough: Lewis, Lee, Morgan, Pearce, Rowe, Whelpdale, Frecklington, Diagouraga, Boyd, Mclean, Batt. Subs: McKeown, Martin, Coutts, Keates, Day, Green, Korentang.

TEAMS Sunderland v Aston Villa
Sunderland: Gordon, Da Silva, Turner, Nosworthy, McCartney, Henderson, Cana, Richardson, Murphy, Jones, Campbell. Subs: Fulop, Ferdinand, Healy, Meyler, Andy Reid, Malbranque, Adam Reid.
Aston Villa: Guzan, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Milner, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey. Subs: Friedel, Luke Young, Sidwell, Carew, Delph, Shorey, Beye.

TEAMS Portsmouth v Stoke
Portsmouth: Ashdown, Vanden Borre, Kaboul, Wilson, Belhadj, Dindane, Brown, Mullins, Yebda, Piquionne, Webber. Subs: Niemi, Mokoena, Hughes, Ben-Haim, Kanu, Basinas, Nlundulu.
Stoke: Simonsen, Griffin, Higginbotham, Cort, Pugh, Lawrence, Arismendi, Whelan, Tonge, Sanli, Kitson. Subs: Parton, Soares, Sidibe, Lund, Wedderburn, Moult, Connor.

TEAMS Barnsley v Man Utd
Barnsley: Steele, Kozluk, Moore, Foster, Julian Gray, De Silva, Colace, Hallfredsson, Hammill, Macken, Bogdanovic. Subs: Preece, Campbell-Ryce, Hume, Hassell, Butterfield, Thompson, Devaney.
Man Utd: Foster, Neville, Brown, Jonathan Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Obertan, Rafael Da Silva, Anderson, Welbeck, Macheda, Owen. Subs: Amos, Tosic, O'Shea, De Laet, Corry Evans, King, James.

1937: You may have noticed we're a bit technologically challenged tonight. A thousand and more apologies. I shall try to crash on though with some quickfire team news.

1930: Step aside Champions League, it's the CARLING CUP FOURTH ROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!