Liverpool's season went from bad to worse Wednesday as it was shocked by fourth-tier side Northampton in the third round of the League Cup, on a night fellow Premier League giants Chelsea and Manchester City were also knocked out.
Liverpool, which is fifth from bottom in the league, lost 4-2 on penalties in the teeming rain at Anfield to the lowest-ranked team left in the competition.
Newcastle upset Chelsea 4-3 following a last-minute strike by Shola Ameobi, the striker's second goal of the night, and West Bromwich Albion came from behind to beat City 2-1 through goals by Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox.
But the biggest shock of the night came at the home of the seven-time League Cup winners and 18-time English champions, who rested most of their main players for a match they were expected to win comfortably.
Northampton is eighth from bottom in the lowest championship in the Football League but belied its status by earning arguably the biggest win in the club's history.
Liverpool went ahead thanks to Milan Jovanovic's angled drive but Billy McKay sent the match into extra time with a 56th-minute close-range goal.
Michael Jacobs put the visitors ahead in the first half of extra time and although David Ngog equalized to force penalties, Northampton went through thanks to Abdul Osman's decisive spotkick.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti also gave many of his reserves a runout but still included first-team regulars John Terry and Nicolas Anelka and went ahead through defender Patrick van Aanholt.
Goals by Nile Ranger, Ryan Taylor and Ameobi put Newcastle in front, only for Anelka to score twice in the space of 17 minutes, the second from the penalty spot, to level the score.
Just as the match appeared to be heading into extra time, Ameobi headed in a corner to put the visitors through.
To cap a disappointing night for Chelsea, Salomon Kalou, who came on as a substitute at the start of the second half, was carried off on a stretcher before the hour mark after pulling up with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
City, which is fourth in the Premier League and hosts Chelsea on Saturday, broke the deadlock through Brazilian striker Jo but West Brom leveled through Zuiverloon in the 55th.
Cox broke through two minutes later to drill a low shot past stand-in goalkeeper Shay Given for the winner against the team that reached the semifinals last season.
Manager Alex Ferguson opted to miss United's match in favor of watching a Spanish league game between Valencia, which plays the English side in the Champions League next week, and Atletico Madrid.
Assistant coach Mike Phelan was in temporary charge and he saw Scunthorpe take a shock lead in the 19th minute through Josh Wright.
United hit back four minutes with a superb lobbed equalizer from midfielder Darron Gibson before center half Chris Smalling volleyed in his first goal for United in the 36th.
Michael Owen made the game safe by stroking home his first, in the 49th, after running onto a through ball by Federico Macheda and the striker then tapped in 20 minutes from time after Ji-sung Park's shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Joe Murphy to make it 5-1.
"It's always going to be a tricky test coming to places like this," United defender Ferdinand said. "But when we got our foot back in the game we settled and started playing and put the game to bed."
Sandwiched between Owen's goals was a drilled finish by Park in the 54th with Scunthorpe scoring a last-minute consolation through Martyn Woolford.
Gerard Houllier's first game in charge of Aston Villa manager ended in his new team winning 3-1 against Blackburn and Wigan beat Preston 2-1.
