FA Cup: Arsenal held, Newcastle stunned
FA Cup: Arsenal held, Newcastle stunned
Arsenal were held by lower division side Leeds United 1-1.

London: Newcastle was ousted from the FA Cup by fourth-tier Stevenage in Saturday's biggest third-round shock, following Premier League rivals Blackpool, Sunderland and West Bromwich out of the competition at the hands of lowly opposition.

Despite Newcastle making five changes from the side that routed West Ham 5-0 in midweek, it was still a strong side that went down 3-1 at Stevenage.

While Stevenage is 15th in League Two, Newcastle is eighth in the Premier League.

"We've had a really tough period — the injuries and the effort took its toll on Saturday night and unfortunately we were on the end of a defeat that we wouldn't like," Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said. "The Premier League is all well and good but a few young boys got caught out tonight by the passion and the physical side of Stevenage.

"They bossed patches of the game through their sheer endeavor and enthusiasm. We've got to match that and we didn't do that."

It was also a bad day for northeast rivals Sunderland, which lost 2-1 loss to third-tier Notts County, and League Championship Middlesbrough, which lost by the same score to Burton of the fourth-tier.

Blackpool went down 2-0 at third-tier Southampton and West Bromwich lost 1-0 at Reading of the second-tier League Championship.

Leeds looked set to follow last season's victory over Manchester United by ousting Arsenal before Cesc Fabregas canceled out Robert Snodgrass' spot kick with one of his own in the 90th minute to earn a 1-1 draw.

"Leeds were well organized, they were quickly on us and maybe our game was not quick enough to get out of their pressure," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who made nine changes from the team which drew 0-0 with Manchester City

Stoke and Wolverhampton will also have to contest replays, but Premier League rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Everton, Fulham, West Ham and Wigan all secured places in Sunday's fourth-round draw.

In Stevenage, which is 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of London, Stacy Long, Michael Bostwick and Peter Winn scored for the home side.

Newcastle's Cheik Tiote was sent off for a reckless two-footed challenge and Joey Barton scored a late consolation.

"We played the game on the front foot and played the better football over 90 minutes and it was good to see the goals go in," Stevenage manager Graham Westley said.

Notts County's victory over Sunderland allowed Paul Ince to prevail over former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, whose Sunderland side was sixth in the topflight.

Craig Westcarr and Lee Hughes scored for Notts County before Darren Bent pulled one back from the penalty spot for Sunderland, which rested several first-team regulars.

West Brom's elimination came after Reading striker Shane Long netted before the Baggies had Jonas Olsson sent off for a second bookable offense.

Lee Barnard and Guly Do Prado got the goals for Southampton that sent a weakened Blackpool side out of the competition.

Wolves could not follow up their midweek league win over Chelsea at Doncaster.

Stephen Hunt's spot kick salvaged a draw for the visitors before having George Elokobi sent off for a challenge on James Coppinger.

Doncaster led 2-1 at halftime after Billy Sharp and James Hayter scored twice in as many minutes to cancel out Nenad Milijas' opener for Wolves.

Stoke also faces a replay after Tuncay Sanli canceled out Michael Chopra's goal for Cardiff to earn a 1-1 draw.

Goals from Kyle Walker Marc Albrighton and Stiliyan Petrov clinched a 3-1 victory at Sheffield United for Aston Villa, which had Ashley Young sent off.

"We haven't had the results we wanted in the league and it's never easy away at Sheffield United," said Gerard Houllier, whose Villa side is in the Premier League relegation zone.

Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander netted in Bolton's 2-0 win against non-league York, Everton routed League Championship side Scunthorpe 5-1 and Fulham crushed Peterborough 6-2, with Diomansy Kamara scoring a hat trick.

West Ham, which was bottom in the Premier League, beat Barnsley 2-0 thanks to goals from Jonathan Spector and Frederic Piquionne, Birmingham won 4-1 at Millwall, Blackburn ousted League Championship leader Queens Park Rangers with a 1-0 win and Wigan edged Hull 3-2.

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