Swansea City were humbled by fourth-tier Oxford United in the first big shock of the FA Cup third round, while Tottenham Hotspur needed an 89th-minute penalty from Harry Kane to salvage a 2-2 draw against Leicester City on Sunday.
Chelsea endured third-round humiliation at the hands of lower-league opposition Bradford City last season, but had no problems 12 months on, with a full-strength team beating third-tier Scunthorpe United 2-0 through goals by Diego Costa and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The world’s oldest knockout competition was short of upsets on Saturday and an injury-hit Liverpool scrambled to secure a nervy draw at Exeter City on Friday, but a surprise finally arrived at the Kassam Stadium, where Oxford won 3-2 to leave Swansea to concentrate on their relegation fight in the English Premier League.
Photo: Reuters
Fifty-four places separated the teams and Ecuador winger Jefferson Montero gave an indication of the supposed difference in class by back-heeling the visitors into the lead in the 23rd minute.
However, Oxford scored three goals in 14 minutes either side of halftime, before Bafetimbi Gomis’ 66th-minute reply proved only a consolation for Swansea.
Swansea came unstuck after making 10 changes to their lineup — a move made by many Premier League managers this weekend to deal with fixture congestion and to give first-team action to fringe players.
“All credit to Oxford, they were more energetic than us and passed the ball better,” Swansea manager Alan Curtis said. “We made changes, but we still had lots of experience, but Oxford thoroughly deserved to beat us.”
Oxford won the League Cup in 1985-1986 and were most recently in England’s top division in 1987-1988, before dropping down the leagues and tumbling into non-league in 2005-2006.
“I’ve got to be delighted beating a Premier League side — but not just that, it’s the way we did it,” Oxford manager Michael Appleton said.
Four Premier League teams were eliminated on Saturday, but only after losing to fellow top-flight sides. It looked like Spurs would be joining them, only to earn a reprieve when Leicester winger Nathen Dyer flicked out his hand in the penalty area.
Kane, on as a second-half substitute, converted the penalty to secure a replay and a third game in 10 days against Leicester. They also meet in the league tomorrow.
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri rested many of the key players who are helping the team make a surprise run at the Premier League title, but the stand-ins delivered, threatening to eliminate Spurs for the second straight season.
After Christian Eriksen put Tottenham ahead, Poland defender Marcin Wasilewski equalized by heading in a corner, before Japan striker Shinji Okazaki — a halftime substitute — dribbled his way into the penalty area and scored at the second attempt in the 48th minute.
“We definitely didn’t want to go out of this competition in the third round,” Kane said. “We’re still in there.”
Chelsea remained unbeaten under Guus Hiddink, who took over until the end of the season after Jose Mourinho’s firing last month, but it was not a convincing performance by the seven-time FA Cup winners.
Under pressure from two defenders, Costa turned in Branislav Ivanovic’s right-wing cross for the 13th-minute opener and his fourth goal in three games. Loftus-Cheek, a substitute, ended Scunthorpe’s resistance in the 68th minute.
Hiddink guided Chelsea to the FA Cup in 2008-2009, also as an interim manager.
Also on Sunday, third-tier Shrewsbury Town beat second-tier Cardiff City 1-0 and fourth-tier sides Carlisle United and Yeovil Town drew 2-2.
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