League Cup round-up:Sheikh Mansour's massive investment in Manchester City was unable to save the Blues from an embarrassing Carling Cup defeat to West Brom's second string at the Hawthorns. Even with an estimated €120 million of talent on the pitch at the final whistle as Roberto Mancini threw on James Milner and David Silva, City were unable to force an equaliser.
Milner came closest in stoppage time when Boaz Myhill made a flying save to ensure a West Brom side showing 10 changes from the team which beat Birmingham on Saturday preserved a lead Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox had given them in a two-minute second-half spell.
It was a dismal result for Mancini, who must now try to avoid defeat to Chelsea at Eastlands on Saturday to stop questions being asked about his admittedly short Blues reign.
In fact, as they contemplated their fate on the journey back up to Manchester, probably the only man who could look back on the contest with any satisfaction was goalkeeper Shay Given. At the weekend Given admitted his plight at Eastlands was not an attractive one but the Irishman turned in an excellent display, with two saves in particular standing out.
The first, to deny Graham Dorrans needed agility after the midfielder had let fly from 20 yards with a shot heading for the bottom corner. Then it was strength, speed and dexterity as Given turned away Giles Barnes’ header, then got across his goal quickly enough to repel Somen Tchoyi.
Even as he reflected on those efforts at half-time, Given must have known his involvement against Chelsea on Saturday would come from the bench given Mancini’s line-up, containing three new faces and three teenagers, had both eyes on the visit of Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
In the final analysis, it may be pointed out to Mancini that his purposes might have been better served had this been the game when he selected all his stars. After all, unless the Italian is harbouring serious ambitions of winning the title, even though City are already seven points adrift of the leaders, a home game against Chelsea is probably not going to make or break their top four aspirations in the same way this defeat ended their hopes of winning a trophy before May.
Liverpoolcontinue to lurch from one crisis to another as they were beaten on penalties by lowly Northampton Town.After the hosts took the lead through Milan Jovanovic's ninth-minute goal, his first for the club, Liverpool paid the price for failing to capitalise on their possession.
The League Two minnows stunned Anfield into silence when Northampton striker Billy McKay equalised 10 minutes after the interval and the visitors held on for extra-time. Northampton even had the temerity to take the lead in extra-time, but David N’Gog forced the penalty shoot-out with a late equaliser.
That was as good as it got for Liverpool, however, and when Nathan Eccleston became the second Liverpool player to miss, Abdul Osman had a single spot-kick in front of the Kop to present Northampton with the greatest result in their history. He duly obliged.
Holders Manchester Uniteddid not let absent boss Alex Ferguson down as they came from behind to beat gallant Scunthorpe5-2 in tonight's third-round tie.
Ferguson reportedly chose to watch Champions League opponents Valencia instead, leaving Mike Phelan in charge, and there was plenty for the assistant manager to think about as Scunthorpe were rewarded for their terrific start by Josh Wright’s superb 19th-minute strike.
But it took only four minutes for Ireland’s Darron Gibson to level and they were ahead before half-time through Chris Smalling. Two goals from Michael Owen and one from Park Ji-sung in the second half put the result beyond doubt but Scunthorpe got the second goal they deserved in injury time from the impressive Martyn Woolford.
Newcastle'sShola Ameobi dumped 10-man Chelseaout of the competition with a 90th-minute winner in a seven-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, who lost Salomon Kalou and Yossi Benayoun through injury, had taken a sixth-minute lead through young left-back Patrick Van Aanholt only for United to storm back and lead at the interval thanks to goals from Nile Ranger and Ryan Taylor.
Ameobi made it 3-1 to United four minutes after the re-start but two goals from Nicolas Anelka (69, 86) looked to have taken the tie into extra-time.
Paulo Ferreira smashed an 88th minute volley against the upright as Chelsea looked for a winner. But it was Newcastle who earned a place in the fourth round when Ameobi rose above Bruma to head the winner from a Gutierrez corner.
Gerard Houllier marked his first match as Aston Villaboss with a victory as two goals from Ashley Young and substitute Emile Heskey saw them win 3-1 against Blackburn.
Rovers were the better side in the first half and deservedly led at the interval through Gael Givet’s stunning strike. But Heskey levelled matters with his first touch after 59 minutes and then Young struck twice in quick succession to see Villa — last season’s beaten finalists — reach the last 16.
Keith Treacy's free kick wasn't enough to see Prestonprogress as Wiganstaged a dramatic late fightback to snatch a 2-1 win over the Championship strugglers.
Jordi Gomez and Charles N’Zogbia struck in the closing three minutes as the Premier League side prevailed at the DW Stadium.
Preston had led after Irish international Treacy opened the scoring in the 23rd minute and Darren Ferguson’s side could have sealed the win only for Paul Coutts to see two efforts come back off hit the woodwork.