Yorke goal fails to save Blackburn

LONDON: Emile Heskey’s two second-half headers yesterday gave Liverpool a 4-3 victory at Blackburn and a place in the final 16 of England’s League Cup.

Heskey, who upped his season goal total to four, scored both headers — in the 49th and 61st — from inside the box, each time beating Blackburn’s American ‘keeper Brad Friedel. Heskey could have had his third in the 75th, but Friedel stopped him on a penalty attempt diving to his left, and then thwarted him again as he tried to kick in the rebound. Australian Harry Kewell got the fourth in the 79th with Barry Ferguson and Dwight Yorke scoring late for Blackburn. In two other all-Premier League showdowns, Aston Villa defeated Leicester 1-0 as German substitute Thomas Hitzlsperger got the deciding goal 14 minutes from the end. Everton won over Charlton 1-0 on Tobias Linderoth’s winner in the 42nd.

Five other Premier League teams were also in action against lower-division rivals. The biggest mismatch appeared to be Chelsea, which fielded a side costing about ?75 million (US$127 million) against Second-Division Notts County, whose lineup cost about 1/75th that much. Chelsea won 4-2 with goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, two from Eidur Gudjohnsen — one on a penalty — and a fourth from Joe Cole. Tony Barras and Mark Stallard scored for Notts County. In other matches Newcastle 1; West Brom 2; Nottingham Forest 2, Portsmouth 4; Tottenham 1, West Ham 0; Wigan 1, Middlesbrough 2.