Premiership sides Birmingham and Fulham were dumped out of the English League Cup by lower league opponents on Tuesday.
Second Division Blackpool beat Birmingham 1-0 and First Division leaders Wigan defeated Fulham by the same scoreline as both Premiership visitors fell at the first hurdle.
Wolves, yet to win in the Premiership this term, enjoyed their first win of the season by beating Darlington 2-0 while Juan Pablo Angel’s hat-trick was the backbone of Aston Villa’s 5-0 thrashing of Wycombe.
In the evening’s other second-round matches, Premiership side Charlton clung on for a 8-7 penalty shoot-out win against Second Division Luton in an extraordinary match at The Valley that finished 4-4 after extra time following Paolo di Canio’s 90th-minute equaliser for the Premiership side.
The result ended a terrible run in the tournament for the London club who in recent seasons had been knocked out in the early stages by lower league opponents Oxford, Stoke, Bournemouth and Wigan.
Otherwise results went with the formbook. Premiership high-flyers Portsmouth overwhelmed Third Division Northampton 5-2 with former Tottenham midfielder Tim Sherwood scoring twice.
But their fellow top-flight new boys Leicester had to wait for Paul Dickov’s 82nd minute penalty to secure a 1-0 win over First Division Crewe.
Elsewhere a Jermain Defoe hat-trick saw West Ham overturn a 2-0 deficit to beat Cardiff 3-2 in the all-First Division clash at Ninian Park.
Blackpool, managed by former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon, held on for victory after Scott Taylor scored the only goal of the match after just six minutes.
Birmingham had plenty of chances to equalise at Bloomfield Road and should have done so from the penalty spot after Stan Lazaridis was brought down.
But with David Dunn unwilling to take penalties after a string of misses and reserve spot-kick man Robbie Savage out of the game, the responsibility was left to Stephen Clemence.
The son of former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence blasted his effort high over the crossbar to the delight of the Blackpool fans.
Wigan, who knocked Fulham out at the fourth-round stage of last season’s League Cup, repeated the dose again on Tuesday thanks to Nathan Ellington’s 73rd minute goal.
Nicknamed ”Duke” after the American jazz musician, Ellington made Fulham manager Chris Coleman pay for fielding an under-strength side when he headed in Andy Liddell’s cross.
Fulham’s London rivals Charlton used a strong team but nearly suffered a similar fate as Luton came within seconds of causing an upset.
The Hatters went 2-0 up through Kevin Foley and David Bayliss before Alan Curbishley’s men responded with goals from Scott Parker and Kevin Lisbie.
But, instead of being crushed at losing their advantage, Luton responded through a 76th minute strike from Gary McSheffrey.
But Italian Di Canio, signed from West Ham in the close season, demonstrated his flair for the dramatic by scoring his first Charlton goal in the dying seconds of extra time.
Claus Jensen restored Charlton’s advantage but still Luton fought back through Matthew Coyne with the second goal of extra time.
But exciting as that was for the fans it had nothing on the penalty shoot-out.
Neither keeper could do much with 15 well-struck penalties but Charlton’s former Republic of Ireland international Dean Kiely emerged the hero when he turned Coyne’s effort round the post.
The Molineux faithful had not seen bottom-of-the-table Wolves, promoted to the Premiership via the play-offs score in the league so far this season but goals from Alex Rae and Joey Gudjonnson gave Dave Jones’s men something to smile about at last. — Sapa-AFP