Non-league Chesterfield pulled off a shock 2-0 win at AFC Wimbledon to book their place in the FA Cup third round.
Armando Dobra put the National League high-flyers in front just before half-time and Jeff King’s long-range effort with 15 minutes left made sure of the upset against the League Two Dons.
Paul Mullin scored a hat-trick as National League leaders Wrexham defeated Farnborough 4-1 at the Racecourse Ground. Mullin headed the Dragons in front from a corner early in the second half, but the National League South visitors were level just after the hour through a free-kick from Oli Pendlebury. Elliot Lee put Wrexham back in front with 12 minutes left before Mullin added two more late on to complete his treble.
Forest Green Rovers ended seventh-tier Alvechurch’s hopes of a money-spinning tie in the third round with a 2-1 win. Former Crystal Palace striker Connor Wickham put Rovers, who are bottom of League One, ahead from the penalty spot in the 24th minute. Alvechurch – who play in Southern League Premier Central Division and were the lowest-ranked team left in the competition – equalised three minutes into the second half through Jediah Yeboah Abbey’s free-kick.
However, Josh March put the League One side back in front just two minutes later, scoring against his former club. Forest Green finished the match with 10 men after defender Dom Bernard was sent off for a second yellow card after grabbing Danny Waldron’s shirt as the Church striker looked to break clear.
Connor Wickham celebrates with his Forest Green teammates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock
King’s Lynn, second-placed in the National League North, were beaten 3-0 at home by League Two Stevenage. Three goals in five minutes at the start of the second half, with Luke Norris scoring a quickfire brace before Jamie Reid’s strike, ended the Linnets’ hopes of further progress.
National League Barnet’s cup dreams were ended with a 1-0 defeat at Accrington through a late goal from Ethan Hamilton. Otis Khan hit a last-minute winner as League Two Grimsby stunned Cambridge 2-1 at the Abbey Stadium. Khan had put the visitors ahead on the hour, but Sam Smith nodded in a equaliser before the Mariners frontman struck a late second to send the League One Us crashing out.
Myles Hippolyte headed a stoppage-time equaliser as League Two Stockport snatched a 2-2 draw at Charlton to earn a replay. Chris Hussey had given County an early lead but the Addicks led by half-time, Steven Sessegnon’s cross diverted into his own net by keeper Ben Hinchcliffe before Albie Morgan made it 2-1.
Goals from Devante Cole, Adam Phillips and a Josh Benson penalty gave Barnsley victory against League Two Crewe 3-0 at Oakwell. A brace from Josh Umerah helped Hartlepool beat 10-man Harrogate 3-1 at Victoria Park. Town defender Joe Mattock was sent off at the end of the first half for a foul on Umerah, who slotted in the resulting spot-kick.
Billy Bodin grabbed two goals in the closing stages as Oxford beat League One rivals Exeter 4-1 at the Kassam Stadium.
Walsall came from behind to beat Carlisle 2-1 with an 88th-minute Andy Williams equaliser and a stoppage-time goal from fellow substitute Douglas James-Taylor.
Sheffield Wednesday substitute Michael Smith hit two goals in six minutes in a 2-1 comeback win over League Two Mansfield at Hillsborough, while Shrewsbury beat Peterborough 3-1 to also book a place in Monday’s draw.
Colby Bishop scored twice from the penalty spot as Portsmouth came from behind to beat MK Dons 3-2 at Fratton Park.
In Saturday’s late kick-off, National League Dagenham were denied another upset when Scott Kashket scored a stoppage-time equaliser for Gillingham at the Chigwell Construction Stadium after Josh Walker had put the hosts in front with just 10 minutes left.
Adrian Mariappa’s last-gasp header denied League One leaders Plymouth victory as Burton grabbed a late point.
The defender’s equaliser – just his second goal in English football in nine years – secured a 2-2 draw for the hosts after Plymouth looked to have turned the game around. Bobby Kamwa put the Brewers ahead in the first half, but Ryan Hardie’s penalty and a goal from Norwich loanee Bali Mumba put the visitors in front.
Ipswich closed the gap at the top with a 2-0 victory at Exeter. Freddie Ladapo and Marcus Harness struck to give the Tractor Boys a comfortable win, while third-placed Sheffield Wednesday kept in touch as Mark McGuinness’ header was enough to earn a 1-0 home win over Shrewsbury.
The gap between the top three and the chasing pack is now nine points after fourth-placed Peterborough lost 1-0 at Bristol Rovers. Scott Sinclair grabbed the winner for the Pirates before Ronnie Edwards was dismissed for the visitors with 15 minutes left. Barnsley moved into the play-off spots after a 3-1 home win over struggling MK Dons, with Adam Phillips and Herbie Kane securing victory for the Tykes.
Bolton also climbed into the top six after a dramatic late comeback at Fleetwood. Carlos Mendes Gomes’ classy first-half finish put the hosts in front but they conceded twice in the final five minutes, Conor Bradley tapping in from close range before Oladapo Afolayan won it in stoppage time. Daniel Butterworth’s winner earned all three points for Port Vale as they beat Charlton 1-0.
Mark McGuinness heads home the winner at Hillsborough. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA
At the bottom of the table, Forest Green earned a morale-boosting 1-1 draw at Oxford after Harry Boyes’ own goal was cancelled out by Jamille Matt. Morecambe lost 2-1 at Lincoln, with Joe Walsh and Ben House on target for the Imps, who climb to ninth. The bottom four, which also includes Burton and MK Dons, all have 14 points each.
Harvey Rodgers’ first-half winner gave Accrington a 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Cambridge to open a six-point gap above the relegation zone, while Alfie May’s strike earned Cheltenham a 1-0 victory at home to Wycombe.
League Two: Orient extend lead after Beckles winner
The league leaders, Leyton Orient, came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory over in-form Stockport. The Hatters took the lead through Myles Hippolyte in the fifth minute but Darren Pratley equalised 15 minutes later and Omar Beckles netted the winner for the visitors midway through the second half.
Orient have a five-point cushion over their nearest rivals, Stevenage, who thought they had found a winner at Grimsby through Jake Reeves’ goal 11 minutes from time – but Niall Maher popped up with a last-minute leveller. Northampton boosted their automatic promotion hopes with a 3-1 win at Bradford, taking charge of the game through Mitch Pinnock and Shaun McWilliams in the first half.
Carlisle’s Ryan Edmondson celebrates with the away fans at the Peninsula Stadium. Photograph: Tim Markland/PA
Barrow climbed above Mark Hughes’ side and into fourth with a 3-1 home win over Hartlepool, who drop back to the bottom of the table. Josh Gordon, Ben Whitfield and Billy Waters got the hosts’ goals inside the first 21 minutes. Carlisle moved into the top six thanks to a 4-1 victory over Salford, with Kristian Dennis on target twice for the visitors.
Colchester climbed off the bottom after ending a seven-match winless run in the league with a 3-0 success against Doncaster. Alex Newby and Samson Tovide scored either side of half-time, with Luke Jannant adding a late third. Gillingham are in the bottom two after Priestley Farquharson’s double earned Newport victory.
Luke Armstrong struck twice for Harrogate in a 3-0 victory over Mansfield, while Ayoub Assal scored his seventh goal in eight matches as Wimbledon beat 10-man Tranmere 2-0. Daniel Agyei’s penalty earned Crewe a 1-0 victory at play-off chasers Swindon, while Sutton beat Rochdale by the same score thanks to Will Randall.
Danny Johnson grabbed a stoppage-time winner for Walsall in a 2-1 success against Crawley. Dominic Telford put Crawley ahead in the 11th minute but Hayden White quickly equalised before Ludwig Francilette saw red. The visitors held out for most of the second half before Johnson’s late strike.
Walking into a small cafe in Bermondsey, south London, Benito Carbone looks like the sort of man who has never made a mistake in his life. Only a certain type of person can pull off the pinstripe that adorns his tailored suit. But any illusions of pomp and grandeur are quickly swept aside: from the first handshake Carbone is disarming, warm – insisting that I call him “Benny” – and happy to admit that when it comes to mistakes, he has made a few.
Perhaps that is not surprising for a player who had 18 clubs across a career that spanned four decades, including spells at Torino, Napoli, Internazionale, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Derby County, Middlesbrough, Bradford, Parma and even Sydney FC. Remarkably, Wednesday are the only club he played at for more than two seasons and it is where he is most fondly remembered in England. And yet Carbone concedes that signing for the Owls was one of his biggest errors.
“Roy Hodgson was my manager at Internazionale,” he says. “He played me every game but I was not happy because I was in the wrong position, on the wing. That’s why I decided to leave Inter. It was a big mistake.
“I played with No 10 on my back, for my family’s team, one of the best sides in Europe, maybe the world. I was 24 years old with a four-year contract. Six months later, Hodgson left and [Luigi] Simoni came and Ronaldo [Nazário] arrived. I should have waited! When I left, I lost the chance to go to the national team. Before me was Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola. After me was Francesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero. So I had to keep playing for a big side if I wanted a chance.”
Hindsight can be cruel as well as illuminating and surely even the most loyal Wednesday supporter can understand Carbone’s anguish. But arriving in Sheffield set him on a path to being one of the biggest cult heroes of the decade in England.
“Milan and Sheffield are very different,” states Carbone, matter-of-factly. “The first six months, the days were all the same. I wish to say thank you to [Wednesday teammates] Regi Blinker and Orlando Trustfull for helping me. They taught me the language, they gave me lifts, they took me out for dinner. Des Walker was great with me as captain. He spoke Italian. I’ll never forget what they did for me.
Benito Carbone is unveiled as Sheffield Wednesday’s record signing by David Pleat in 1996. Photograph: By Paul Barker/PA Archive/Press Association Images
“When Paolo Di Canio arrived, I did the same for him. He said he was staying at a hotel and I said ‘No! You are alone? You come and sleep at my house.’ We were like brothers.”
Alongside Di Canio, Carbone developed into one of the league’s most creative and entertaining forwards, with enough goal-of-the-season contenders to fill a full Match of the Day shortlist. His decision to leave Wednesday in 1999 came as a big surprise.
“David Pleat was like my father and he treated me like a son,” Carbone says. “But something was broken between me and Danny Wilson, the new manager. We had an argument. I never wanted to leave Sheffield. Even now, a generation later, you’d never expect the fans to recognise you. But I went back for a charity game, over 20 years after I left, and the crowd went crazy for me. Danny Wilson was there. I picked him up and told him I wanted to say sorry. I was really young. My head was different. It was my mistake, definitely.”
A move to Villa materialised. Carbone would play a leading role in getting them to the FA Cup final in 2000, scoring a hat-trick (including an outrageous 40-yard strike) in a 3-2 win over Leeds in the fifth round and the winner in the quarter-finals against Everton.
“I brought my family over for the final,” Carbone smiles. “They were all in tears listening to the fans singing my name at Wembley in the warm-up [to the tune of Dean Martin’s Volare].” Carbone unabashedly sings in the corner of the cafe: “When the ball hits the back of the net, Benito he ain’t finished yet.” Then he reflects: “Unfortunately we lost the game.” His compatriot Roberto Di Matteo scored the only goal of the game for Chelsea.
His exit from Villa, after one year, was also difficult but not necessarily Carbone’s fault. “I was in the last year of my contract. Villa offered me a four-year deal, but my agent met with Giovanni Trapattoni at Fiorentina, who had Rui Costa, [Gabriel] Batistuta, [Francesco] Toldo. A big team.”
But then, with the sale of Batistuta to Roma, Fiorentina changed their minds, leaving Carbone without a club on the eve of the season. Surprisingly, Bradford made the best offer, having survived relegation on the final day: a sensational David Wetherall header against Liverpool keeping them in the Premier League.
“Bradford wanted me a lot,” Carbone says. “The chairman even flew to Milan to make me sign the contract. This was important for me, to feel wanted. I arrived, and we started the pre-season. We all got on a bus for six, seven hours and when we stopped I didn’t see any football pitches. I was confused. ‘What are we doing here?’ I asked. It was a military camp, and we stayed there for 15-20 days. It was like detention!
Benito Carbone says it is ‘my dream’ to manage in England. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
“We had to prepare our rooms spotlessly, like the army, with daily inspections and stand to attention outside the door. Then we would march around, playing with bombs, crawling through water. Eventually, I had enough and asked: ‘Where is the ball?! Please, give it to me.’ Jim Jefferies [Bradford’s then manager] wanted to try a new experience in pre-season? In my opinion, this was the reason we were relegated. By November that season, we were in trouble. There was no chance [of us staying up]. It’s not football!”
Bradford finished bottom in 2000-01, winning five games despite a squad that had started the season with Stan Collymore, Dean Windass and Dan Petrescu among their ranks. “I had a relegation release clause in my contract and left on loan to Derby and Middlesbrough. But when I came back to Bradford I still had two years left on my deal. The chairman called me and explained if they kept paying my wages the club would go under. I called my agent and left the club. I wanted to save the club. The club owed me £2.4m but I left the money and I left the house the club had bought for me.”
If Carbone made mistakes, quietly helping Bradford in their darkest hour is surely one of his greatest achievements. Not many people in football would forgo that kind of sum, as well as their employment and their home for the sake of a poorly managed club, but the decision is easier to understand if you know Carbone’s roots and his principles.
Benito Carbone holds off Everton’s Marco Materazzi in 1999. Photograph: Action Images
“Some would call me stupid but we are men first, players after. I don’t want other people crashing their lives because of my fault. For what? I come from the road. I became rich, but I never changed. Nobody can say otherwise. I lost my father when I was four. My mother brought up six boys on her own, selling olive oil. After 12 hours of work, she would work a second job, and then come home and cook for us. We were so lucky as players to have the best job in the world. But the job can’t change who you are. I’m always human.”
There is a toughness that can really be seen only if you look closely. Maybe it is something Carbone has always carried. In many of the old photographs his long locks and languid playing style distract from the bloody marks on his legs left by his opponents. Now, at 51, his jaw is clenched beneath that perfectly manicured beard.
This resilience seems very well suited to management. He was linked with the vacant job at Bradford this year before Mark Hughes took the post and after coaching in Serie B and with the Azerbaijan national team, the Italian feels ready to be a manager in England. “This is my dream,” Carbone insists. “My passion is incredible. Be sure that when I start, I’ll never stop.”
