Premier League side Crystal Palace were knocked out of the League Cup by third-tier side Bristol City on Tuesday as Fulham, Liverpool and Sunderland recovered to avoid being embarrassed by lowly opposition.
Palace, who have lost both of their games back in the top flight, were beaten 2-1 in Bristol.
Sunderland avoided a similar upset by fighting back from 2-0 down at home to another League One side, MK Dons, to win 4-2.
US striker Jozy Altidore started the comeback by scoring his first goal for the club before Connor Wickham netted twice and Adam Johnson drilled in the fourth.
Liverpool were 2-0 up against Notts County, but the League One side scored twice to force the game into extra-time when the hosts reasserted their authority to win 4-2.
Liverpool opened the scoring in the fourth minute through a fine solo effort from Raheem Sterling. Daniel Sturridge then made the most of a defense-splitting pass from Steven Gerrard to put the hosts 2-0 up in the 29th minute.
However, Notts County pulled one back from Yoann Arquin’s header in the 62nd minute, before substitute Adam Coombes slotted in a late equalizer.
In extra-time Liverpool recovered their superiority as Sturridge stroked in his second goal of the night and fourth of the season, before substitute Jordan Henderson netted Liverpool’s fourth.
“I think we got complacent and they got some belief,” Sturridge told Sky Sports. “They started playing better football, but our fitness from pre-season showed at the end.”
Martin Jol’s Fulham edged past fourth-tier side Burton Albion in a penalty shootout after a dramatic 2-2 draw.
Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale saved the crucial spot-kick from Phil Edwards to send the Premier League club through after they fought back from behind in extra-time.
Adel Taarabt scored his first goal for the Cottagers to put the visitors ahead in the 36th minute, but Jack Dyer forced extra time with an 85th-minute equalizer.
Michael Symes put the League Two side ahead in the first period of extra-time, but Hugo Rodallega ensured penalties would settle the second-round match when he leveled with three minutes to go.
At Leyton Orient, Robbie Brady’s 106th-minute goal sent Premier League newcomers Hull City through with a 1-0 victory over the League One leaders.
In east London, Ravel Morrison marked his full West Ham United debut with his first goal for the club to clinch a 2-1 victory over fourth-tier Cheltenham Town.
Sweden striker Johan Elmander marked his full Norwich City debut with two goals in the Premier League side’s 6-3 win over Bury, while Saido Berahino marked his first West Bromwich Albion start with a 36-minute hat-trick to clinch a 3-0 win over Newport County.
At Oakwell, goals from Steven Davis and Jay Rodriguez sent Southampton on their way to a 5-1 victory over hosts Barnsley.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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