Palace, County clean up with FA Cup wins

London : Crystal Palace and Notts County struck blows for the impoverished against the Premier League Tuesday night by earning unlikely FA Cup fourth-round replay victories over top-flight opponents in Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, respectively.

While County, of League Two, won 2-0 at Wigan, Palace secured a notable victory of their own, 3-1 at home to Wolves. The London club, placed in administration last week with debts of £32 million (Dh188 million), relied upon their quickest ever hat-trick, scored in under six minutes by Danny Butterfield, a full-back playing up front, to secure a lucrative tie with Aston Villa on Valentine's Day.

Palace's players received their wages for January only on Tuesday but, having been docked 10 points in the league, took their frustrations out in style.

"It was a great night and I'm pleased for everyone connected to the club," said the manager, Neil Warnock, who spoke to the Palace chairman, Simon Jordan, before kick-off. "You can see what we've got here: A small number of lads and a great spirit. We've got a big day against Villa to look forward to now, and it's a great opportunity.

"Transfer deadline day was a long day for me. I think Fulham offered £30,000 for three of our academy players, and Chelsea came in for some, too. That's disgusting. And everybody knows that [the full-back Nathaniel] Clyne almost went to Wolves yesterday, and I was disappointed with the offer we accepted for him. But he turned them down and the money we would have got for him we'll get from this Cup run now."

— Guardian News & Media Ltd