West Ham stunned by Chesterfield

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LONDON, England -- Premier League strugglers West Ham United were knocked out of the League Cup 2-1 by third division Chesterfield in a third round shock on Tuesday.

The London side, who are second from bottom in the top flight and have now lost eight games in a row, were sunk by an 87th minute close-range strike from Caleb Folan.

"We are on an awful run at the moment and the performance showed the lack of confidence we possess," said West Ham's under-fire manager Alan Pardew.

There were no such problems for the majority of Premier League sides facing second division opponents, with Arsenal winning 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion, Everton thrashing Luton 4-0 and Watford overcoming Hull City 2-1.

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill found his return to former club Leicester a difficult challenge as his top flight side had to work hard for a 3-2 extra-time victory.

Leeds United slumped 3-1 at home to fellow second division side Southend United in front of former England midfielder Dennis Wise, who was named as their new manager on Tuesday.

Premier League newcomers Sheffield United, however, lost 4-2 at home to second division Birmingham City.

But the big surprise came at Saltergate despite West Ham having got off to the perfect start when they took the lead through Marlon Harewood's volley after just four minutes.

They failed to add to their score, however, and Colin Larkin got Chesterfield back on level terms in the 54th minute after being set up by Folan to fire home with his left foot.

It was Folan who got the winner, though, and he said of his late strike: "What a moment. Amazing, yeah, amazing. I didn't really catch it that well to be honest."

Chesterfield, in the fourth round for only the second time after their other appearance in 1965, were FA Cup semifinalists in 1997 but are now 15th in the third division.

"I thought we got out just desserts in terms of the way we played," said delighted Chesterfield manager Roy McFarland. "Over 90 minutes we deserved to win."

In Tuesday's other ties, fourth division Notts County got past second division Southampton 2-0, fourth division Wycombe Wanderers beat third division Doncaster 3-2 on penalties as did third division Port Vale against second division Norwich City.

The last six third round matches take place on Wednesday.

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