Tonge's double edges Sheffield past Liverpool

Reuters, Sheffield, England

Teenage midfielder Michael Tonge scored twice in a late six- minute spell to give first division Sheffield United a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the first leg of their League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.

Liverpool appeared to be cruising to victory thanks to a first-half header by 20-year-old striker Neil Mellor and, with the home leg to come, the premier league side looked odds-on to reach the final on March 3 in Cardiff.

But 19-year-old Tonge struck in the 76th and 82nd minutes to turn the tie around and give his side a real chance of reaching their first major final since 1936 when they appeared in the last of their six FA Cup finals.

Finals are regular fare for Liverpool, which have won the League Cup a record six times, including two years ago in what became a cup treble, and they looked on course for another final appearance after totally dominating from the start.

They had a couple of half chances when Mellor shot wide and Finnish center back Sami Hyypia headed over from a corner.

But the two men combined in the 35th minute to break the deadlock, Hyypia flicking on a Danny Murphy free kick and 20-year-old Mellor nipping it to head the ball home for his first senior goal.

Liverpool continued to look the most likely and El Hadji Diouf forced a sharp save from Patrick Kenny after 65 minutes.

United finally gave its fans a moment of hope in the 72nd minute when Peter Ndlovu and Wayne Allison forced Chris Kirkland into action.

The chances lifted the team and four minutes later it equalized when 38-year-old Stuart McCall fed Tonge, half his age, who shot low past Kirkland for his first goal since October.

Incredibly, United went ahead in the 82nd minute when Tonge showed great composure to side-step a tackle before lashing a superb shot beyond Kirkland from the edge of the box after Liverpool had failed to clear a corner.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spain, second division Terrassa scored twice in the last nine minutes to claim a 3-3 draw at home to a second string Real Madrid side on Wednesday and stay in with a chance of making the quarterfinals of the King's Cup.

Real coach Vicente del Bosque chose to rest the entire starting line-up from the weekend's 4-1 win over Valencia in the Spanish league but the visitors were still able to take the lead with a Javier Portillo penalty midway through the first half.

Haruna Babangida, on loan from Barcelona, had the satisfaction of equalizing on 63 minutes but Real pulled clear with a double from Guti, the first a neat finish to a sweeping move on 68 minutes, the second a low free kick three minutes later.

Real looked set to take a comfortable lead back to the Bernabeu for the third round second leg next week but the late intervention of Monty changed the game.

Monty managed to get in front of the Real defense to convert a Pedro Riesco cross on 81 minutes and the Catalan midfielder leveled the scores three minutes later with a header at the far post from Hector Besora's swinging center.

Osasuna made virtually certain of a place in the quarterfinals with a 4-0 stroll away to Real Union de Irun.

Sevilla are well placed after beating Numancia 3-1 away, while Atletico Madrid's 1-0 win at Xerez should be enough to see it through in the second leg at the Calderon.