Premiership quartet are dumped out
 |  Liddell celebrates one of his two goals as Sheffield United beat Aston Villa |
| |
LONDON, England -- The third round of the FA Cup produced a host of shock results, with four Premiership clubs losing to lower league opposition.
The biggest surprise came at Oldham, where the side in League One - England's third division - beat Manchester City 1-0 courtesy of Scott Vernon's early goal.
Aston Villa lost 3-1 at Championship side Sheffield United, while Norwich and Crystal Palace were beaten at West Ham and Sunderland respectively.
Villa had taken the lead in their tie with a long-range Gareth Barry effort, but the home side levelled when Danny Cullip diverted in a corner.
Andy Liddell fired home United's second on 82 minutes, despite Villa appeals for offside, and the attacking midfielder made no mistake a minute later with a first-time shot that keeper Thomas Sorensen allowed to squirm beneath him.
It was Villa's fourth consecutive third round exit while United progressed after reaching last season's quarter-finals and the semi-finals in 2003.
The decisive goal at Oldham came in the 14th minute after City's Paul Bosvelt was penalised for handball.
Forty-year-old David Eyres, who had earlier cleared a Shaun Wright-Phillips drive off the line, swung in the free-kick where Vernon stole in to slot the ball home from close range past David James in the Manchester City goal.
Vernon may have grabbed the goalscoring headlines but it was goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi who kept his side in front with a series of inspired saves as he denied Antoine Sibierski as well as Wright-Phillips.
Kevin Betsy came close to extending Oldham's lead as the game opened up after the interval while Bosvelt fired over after a goalmouth scramble.
But Eyres almost added to Oldham's advantage before Pogliacomi conjured up another breathtaking save to tip a Wright-Phillips drive around the post late on.
"It goes without saying that when you're the manager of a Premiership club, you go eight miles down the road and get beaten by a team two divisions below you, it's disappointing," said City manager Kevin Keegan.
Norwich dominated their encounter with West Ham but lost out to Marlon Harewood's 81st-minute winner.
Crystal Palace were also left with only the fight for Premiership survival to concentrate on this season after a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland.
Palace had led through top scorer Andy Johnson but, after Andrew Welsh equalised just before half-time, they went out to a controversial Marcus Stewart penalty on the hour mark.
