England. — FA Cup holders Arsenal were sensationally dumped out of the competition by Nottingham Forest on Sunday, joining Leeds United as big-name casualties on a day of shocks.

Elsewhere, West Ham stayed alive with a goalless draw at Shrewsbury and Tottenham scored three goals in eight second-half minutes to see off the challenge of League One side AFC Wimbledon.

Championship side Forest revived memories of their glory years under Brian Clough, putting 13-times winners Arsenal to the sword in an incident-packed 4-2 win at the City Ground.

“It was good. My wife told me that if I score a hat-trick at any point this year then I get a dog, so I was trying to get the penalty,” said two-goal hero Eric Lichaj.

“Vaughany (David Vaughan) told me politely — I won’t say what he said to me — to go away.”

US international Lichaj opened the scoring for the home side with a header midway through the first half but Per Mertesacker equalised for the much-changed away team just three minutes later.

However, Forest continued to probe an inexperienced Arsenal line-up and got their reward just before halftime when Lichaj volleyed in spectacularly from the edge of the box.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, serving a touchline ban, was forced to watch powerless from the stands as Rob Holding conceded a penalty that teenager Ben Brereton converted in the 64th minute to stretch the home side’s lead to 3-1.

Danny Welbeck gave Arsenal hope with just over 10 minutes to go but Kieran Dowell netted from the penalty spot again to seal a 4-2 win for the second-tier side over the Premier League visitors.

In a breathless final few minutes Forest’s Joe Worrall was sent off but it was too late for Arsenal.

In the early kick-off, on-loan forward Shawn McCoulsky headed in a dramatic 89th-minute winner for Welsh club Newport to seal a 2-1 victory against 1972 Cup winners Leeds.

Leeds had taken an early lead at Rodney Parade when Gaetano Berardi’s deflected long-range shot found the net.

But Newport, currently 11th in League Two – the fourth tier of the English game – levelled 14 minutes from time when Leeds defender Conor Shaughnessy sliced into his own net.

Infused with fresh belief in front of a passionate Welsh crowd, Newport pressed for a winner, and with a minute to go on-loan substitute McCoulsky rose highest at a corner to head in the decisive goal and send the stadium into raptures.

Much-changed Leeds were then reduced to 10 men when substitute Samuel Saiz was immediately sent off over an off-the-ball incident.

“This is much better beating Championship teams like Leeds,” said Newport manager Michael Flynn. “I don’t want to be winning relegation battles, I want to be winning FA Cup ties and climbing the table.”

West Ham had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank for keeping them in the Cup with a 0-0 draw after an uninspired performance against Shrewsbury Town of the third tier.

The England goalkeeper, returning to the club where he started his career, made a fine save from Mat Sadler with about 10 minutes to go until the interval and repeated the trick against Alex Rodman to keep the score at 0-0.

“The players are a little bit deflated almost,” said Shrewsbury Town manager Paul Hurst.

“But we have a replay to look forward to,” he added. “We know it will be tough. They will be at home, more comfortable in their own stadium.” — AFP.

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