Dempsey Hat Trick Leads Fulham to Victory in FA Cup

Dempsey Hat Trick Leads Fulham to Victory in FA Cup
Jojo Doria

London, England

Clint Dempsey led a banner day for Americans in FA Cup play with a hat trick to lead Fulham to victory.

Dempsey's outburst led Fulham to a 4-0 victory over Charlton while Premiere League teams Blackburn and Wigan were ousted.

Everton beat Tamworth 2-0, Blackpool routed fifth-tier team Fleetwood 5-1 and Salisbury, which at 17th in the sixth-tier Conference South was the lowest-ranked club left in the competition, was knocked off 3-1 at Sheffield United.

In Everton's win, American Landon Donovan sent in a corner that was headed in by Johnny Heitinga for a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game.

American Brad Guzan, in goal for Aston Villa for the injured Shay Given, saved a penalty by Scott McGleish in stoppage time in a 3-1 triumph over the Bristol Rovers.

Simon Cox also had a hat trick to lead West Bromwich Albion to a 4-2 win at Cardiff City.

Dempsey has been having a fine season for Fulham and has 12 goals, one shy of his career high of 13 last season.

He opened the scoring in the 8th minute and made it 2-0 in the 61st minute with a left-footed strike. Dempsey completed his first career hat trick in the 81st minute after Bryan Ruiz drew a penalty and Dempsey put it home.

Fourth-tier Swindon rallied to beat Wigan 2-1 while Blackburn lost 2-1 to Newcastle in one of the round's two all-Premier League matches.

Tottenham got goals from Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Giovani dos Santos in a 3-0 victory over fourth-tier Cheltenham.