Peacock double takes

Peacock double takes Chelsea to FA final

LONDON (UPI): Gavin Peacock continued his run of big-game goals Saturday as he struck twice at Wembley to give Chelsea a 2-0 win over Luton in the first English FA Cup semifinal.

Peacock, 26, scored the quarterfinal winner against Wolverhampton and also got the vital goals in Chelsea's remarkable twin Premier League successes against Manchester United.

But none will have pleased the Stamford Bridge faithful as much as his well-taken efforts Saturday that took the club to its first FA Cup final since 1970 when it beat Leeds after a replay.

"We felt that if we could get the second goal it would be the killer," said Peacock, a 1.25 million pounds (d2 million) buy from Newcastle last year. "This means so much to the team -- the Cup run has given us a real spur."

After a closely-contested first half Chelsea poured on the style in the second and look quite capable of inflicting a third defeat on Manchester United in the final should the League champion overcome Oldham in the second semi on Sunday.

Livewire striker John Spencer was a constant threat and together with Peacock were too much of a handful for the constantly backpeddling Luton defense.

Chelsea looked the more dangerous side throughout the first half, restricting the First Division team to a series of long balls towards Kerry Dixon.

But Chelsea's Scandinavian defensive pairing of Erland Johnsen and Jakob Kjeldbjerg had much the better of the duel with the former Chelsea favorite.

On the break Chelsea looked swift and dangerous with Peacock and Spencer troubling the Luton back four.

Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle has instilled in his players a style based on short passes and quick movement, but both goals were the result of direct build-ups.

The opener came after 13 minutes when Eddie Newton launched a free kick from within his own half and Irish international striker Tony Cascarino rose unchallenged to nod the ball goalwards. Spencer helped into the path of Peacock who drove it past Luton's American keeper Juergen Sommer.

Despite having the majority of possession Luton rarely looked like breaking through.

Chelsea went close to adding to its lead when Steve Clarke ran through two weak tackles only to trip over the ball with the goal beckoning.

Chelsea grew in confidence and skipper Dennis Wise tested Sommer with an 18-yard shsot at the end of a high-speed five-man move.

The second came two minutes after the break and again it was the aerial power of Cascarino, who last month was told he could leave the club on a free transfer, that did the damage.

Peacock got on the end of the Irishman's flick, exchanged passes with Spencer and kept his cool to calmly slot-in left footed past the helpless Sommer for his sixth Fa Cup goal of the season.

Bundesliga

In Bonn, Bayern Munich remained on course for its 13th Bundesliga title Saturday with a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt despite being reduced to 10 players for the final 18 minutes after Thomas Helmer was sent off.

Mehmet Scholl opened the scoring in the 39th minute and captain Lothar Matthaeus struck a 54th minute penalty for Bayern, while Anthony Yeboah netted the temporary equalizer in injury time of the first half.

Munich maintained its four point lead with 39 points with just four rounds to play. Bayer Leverkusen moved into second place with 35 points after a lucky 2-1 victory over struggling Freiburg, and preseason favorite Borussia Dortmund held off Cologne 2-1 to move to third on 34 points.

Results Premier League Coventry 1, Tottenham 0 Liverpool 1, Ipswich 0 Manchester City 2, Newcastle 1 Norwich 4, Southampton 5 Sheffield Wednesday 3, Queen's Park Rangers 1 West Ham 0, Everton 1

Standings Premier League

P W D L F A Pts Man United 36 23 10 3 72 36 79 Blackburn 36 23 7 6 57 29 76 Newcastle 37 19 8 10 70 36 65 Arsenal 36 16 15 5 48 21 63 Leeds 36 15 14 7 52 34 59 S Wednesday 37 15 12 10 67 50 57 Liverpool 38 16 9 13 56 49 57 Wimbledon 36 14 10 12 43 46 52 Aston Villa 36 13 12 11 39 36 51 Q P R 35 14 8 13 54 53 50 Norwich 38 11 15 12 62 58 48 Coventry 37 12 11 14 38 42 47 West Ham 36 11 11 14 38 50 44 Chelsea 35 11 9 15 39 44 42 Man City 38 9 15 14 34 43 42 Ipswich 38 9 14 15 33 50 41 Everton 38 11 7 20 38 56 40 Tottenham 37 9 12 16 47 53 39 Oldham 35 9 10 16 37 56 37 Southampton 37 10 6 21 39 56 36 S United 37 6 17 14 35 54 35 Swindon 37 4 14 19 41 87 26