Five EFL clubs claim scalps by beating higher-division opposition in third round
Sunday 7 January 2018 07:15, UK
Coventry ended the reign of Stoke manager Mark Hughes with a shock 2-1 victory in their FA Cup third-round tie on Saturday.
Jack Grimmer's 68th-minute goal won it for the League Two side, after Charlie Adam's penalty had cancelled out Jordan Willis' opener at the Ricoh Arena.
Stoke later announced that they had sacked Hughes.
Elsewhere, runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City marched on in their quest to win four trophies following a 4-1 rout of Burnley.
A defensive error enabled Ashley Barnes to give the visitors an unexpected lead, only for Pep Guardiola's men to take full control through two goals from Sergio Aguero and one each by Leroy Sane and Bernardo Silva.
In the earlier kick-off on Saturday, Fleetwood earned a creditable replay with Leicester after a 0-0 draw at Highbury, their first game against top-flight opposition.
The League One side nearly won it in stoppage time, as Ashley Hunter saw his deflected effort hit the foot of the post twice.
Bournemouth looked destined to be another Premier League team embarrassed by lower league opposition until Steve Cook rescued a 2-2 draw at home to Wigan in injury-time.
Will Grigg opened the scoring in the fifth minute and the Latics doubled their lead through an own goal by Emerson Hyndman.
But Lys Mousset began the fightback before Cook fired the late equaliser to take the tie to a replay.
Peterborough pulled off a stunning FA Cup upset as three goals in the final 15 minutes earned them a 3-1 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Villa had looked set to cruise to victory when Keinan Davis gave them the lead after only eight minutes, but League One Peterborough produced a storming fightback against the Championship side and leading scorer Jack Marriott drew them level in the 75th minute.
The towering Ryan Tafazolli then put the visitors in front with a header seven minutes from time before Marriott struck for the 23rd time this season in stoppage time with his fifth FA Cup goal of the season.
Ayoze Perez set Premier League Newcastle on their way into the fourth round as they launched a first-half blitz to see off battling Luton 3-1.
Perez struck twice from close range before Jonjo Shelvey helped himself to a third inside nine minutes to send the Magpies in at the break in complete control, before Danny Hylton's second-half goal for Luton.
In the late game, Norwich earned a replay against Chelsea as the sides played out a goalless draw at Carrow Road.
Southampton were 1-0 winners at Fulham thanks to James Ward-Prowse's first-half goal, and West Brom won 2-0 at Exeter with strikes from Salomon Rondon and Jay Rodriguez.
Both sides ended with 10 men as Swansea were held 0-0 at Championship leaders Wolves, Watford saw off Bristol City 3-0 with goals from Andre Carrillo, Troy Deeney and Etienne Capoue, and Huddersfield were 2-1 winners at Bolton with goals from Rajiv van La Parra and Danny Williams.
Rudy Gestede and Martin Braithwaite scored in the first half as Middlesbrough dumped northeast rivals Sunderland out with a 2-0 win at the Riverside Stadium in the other early kick-off.
In the day's other upsets, MK Dons won 1-0 at QPR through Ousseynou Cisse's goal on the hour mark, a Jon Stead strike gave Notts County a 1-0 victory at Brentford, while Yeovil also beat higher division opposition, defeating Bradford 2-0 at Huish Park.
Stevenage earned a replay at Reading following a 0-0 draw, while there were stalemates in two more clashes between Championship and League Two clubs - Mansfield holding Cardiff, and Carlisle v Sheffield Wednesday ending goalless too.
There were also wins for Millwall, Hull, Birmingham, Rochdale, Sheffield United and Preston.
Replays will be played week commencing January 15, and the fourth-round draw will take place on Monday before Brighton's clash with Crystal Palace.
