Substitute Robin van Persie netted a dramatic injury-time equaliser as Manchester United clung to life in the FA Cup third round by rescuing a 2-2 draw at West Ham United yesterday.

Tom Cleverley had given the visitors a 23rd-minute lead at Upton Park, but Joe Cole, making his first West Ham appearance since his return from Liverpool, twice set up James Collins to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

Alex Ferguson’s side were drifting towards a second third-round exit in three seasons, after a 1-0 loss to Leeds United in 2010, until Van Persie finished from Ryan Giggs’s raking pass to take the tie to a replay.

Earlier, debutant Demba Ba scored twice as holders Chelsea roared back from behind to beat Southampton 5-1.

Ba, who signed from Newcastle on Friday, cancelled out Jay Rodriguez’s 22nd-minute opener and then added a second as Chelsea ran riot, with Victor Moses, Branislav Ivanovic and substitute Frank Lampard also on target.

“It is always important for a striker to score goals, but more than just the goals was his contribution for the team,” said Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez.

“His movement and understanding of things we were wanting to do was really good. He was very clever and he could understand the movement of the players. He did everything well on the pitch.”

Manchester City enjoyed a similarly straightforward afternoon against second-tier Watford, with Carlos Tevez scoring a ferocious free-kick before Gareth Barry and Marcos Lopez completed a 3-0 success.

The third round had opened with an upset as second-tier Brighton beat Newcastle 2-0 to knock Alan Pardew’s side out of the competition for the second year in succession.

Andrea Orlandi and Will Hoskins scored in either half at the AMEX Stadium, while Newcastle, who fielded a weakened team, had captain Shola Ameobi sent off for two bookable offences.

“If I am being honest, that team is a shadow of the team we put out last season,” said Newcastle manager Pardew.

“We need to get some bigger players back, who can handle the situation of carrying the Newcastle jersey.”

The biggest upsets of the day saw Macclesfield Town and Luton Town of the fifth-tier Conference National overcome Championship sides Cardiff City and Wolves, 2-1 and 1-0 respectively.

“It was probably the most emotional I’ve been in a game and to come from behind with five minutes to go was incredible,” said Macclesfield manager Steve King after his side’s victory over the Championship leaders.

Premier League sides Fulham, Sunderland, Wigan and Stoke City were all taken to replays by lower-league opponents.

Jordi Gomez levelled for Wigan in a 1-1 draw against third-tier Bournemouth, while Sunderland hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Championship representatives Bolton Wanderers.

Giorgios Karagounis’s stunning 80th-minute volley rescued a 1-1 draw for Fulham at home to Blackpool, and Stoke City were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace despite giving a first start to close-season signing Michael Owen.

Aston Villa fought back at home to Ipswich Town to prevail 2-1 through goals from Ipswich old boy Darren Bent and Andreas Weimann, while Reading also had to come from behind in a 3-1 win at Crawley Town.

Tottenham avoided a repeat of their 1987 cup final loss to Coventry City with a 3-0 success at White Hart Lane that saw Clint Dempsey claim a first-half brace.

In one of four all-Premier League encounters in the third round, Kieron Dyer’s injury-time effort earned QPR a 1-1 draw at home to West Brom.

Seventh-tier Hastings United saw their campaign ended at Middlesbrough, who prevailed 4-1 despite seeing on-loan Hastings goalkeeper Liam O’Brien save an 18th-minute penalty from Ishmael Miller.

Results and standings

Aldershot 3
Hylton 6, 23, 62;
Rotherham 1
Frecklington 71p;

HT: 2-0. Att: 2,992.
Red cards: Arnason (R) 84, Hylton (A) 85.

Aston Villa 2
Bent 45; Weimann 83;
Ipswich 1
Chopra 31;

HT: 1-1. Att: 24,854.

Barnsley 1
Rose 85;
Burnley 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 5,091.
Red card: Stock (BUR) 37.

Blackburn 2
Murphy 7; Hanley 58;
Bristol City 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 5,504.

Bolton 2
Lee 12; Sordell 48;
Sunderland 2
Wickham 61; Gardner 75;

HT: 1-0. Att: 12,204.

Brighton 2
Orlandi 33; Hoskins 87;
Newcastle 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 21,740.
Red card: Ameobi (N) 63.

Charlton 0
Huddersfield 1
Beckford 11;

HT: 0-1. Att: 6,657.
Red card: Dervite (C) 57.

Crawley Town 1
Adams 1;
Reading 3
Le Fondre 13, 49p; Hunt 44;

HT: 1-2. Att: 5,880.

Crystal Palace 0
Stoke 0

Att: 13,693.

Derby 5
Tranmere 0
Davies 42; Sammon 54; Brayford 63; Hendrick 72; Bennett 87;

HT: 1-0. Att: 11,740.

Fulham 1
Karagounis 80;
Blackpool 1
Sylvestre 60;

HT: 0-0. Att: 14,473.

Hull 1
Proschwitz 90;
Leyton Orient 1
Mooney 78;

HT: 0-0. Att: 8,585.

Leeds 1
Becchio 60;
Birmingham 1
Elliott 32;

HT: 0-1. Att: 11,447.

Leicester 2
Wood 3; De Laet 21;
Burton 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 14,463.

Luton 1
Lawless 46;
Wolves 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 9,638.

Macclesfield 2
Barnes-Homer 85; Barnes-Homer 88p;
Cardiff 1
Jarvis 57;

HT: 0-0. Att: 3,165.

Man. City 3
Tevez 25; Barry 44; Lopes 90;
Watford 0

HT: 2-0. Att: 46,821

M’Boro 4
Zemmama 22, 68; Halliday 47; Miller 85;
Hastings 1
Goldburg 69;

HT: 1-0. Att: 12,579.

Millwall 1
Feeney 31;
Preston 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 5,364.

Nottm Forest 2
Smith 13 og; Sharp 90;
Oldham 3
Simpson 54, 58; Baxter 61;

HT: 1-0. Att: 11,293.
Red card: Collins (NF) 60.

Oxford 0
Sheff. United 3
McMahon 17; Kitson 68; Blackman 87;

HT: 0-1. Att: 7,079.

Peterborough 0
Norwich 3
Bennett 30; Jackson 41; Snodgrass 70;

HT: 0-2. Att: 13,198

QPR 1
Dyer 90;
West Brom 1
Long 79;

HT: 0-0. Att: 8,984.

Sheffield Wed. 0
MK Dons 0

Att: 11,462.

Southampton 1
Rodriguez 22;
Chelsea 5
Ba 35, 61; Moses 45; Ivanovic 52; Lampard 83 pen;

HT: 1-2. Att: 27,813.

Southend 2
Corr 39, 54
Brentford 2
Adeyemi 29; Cresswell 38 og;

HT: 1-2. Att: 5,540.

Tottenham 3
Dempsey 14, 37; Bale 33;
Coventry 0

HT: 3-0. Att: 35,766.

West Ham 2
Collins 27, 59;
Man. United 2
Cleverley 23; Van Persie 90;

HT: 1-1. Att: 32,922.

Wigan 1
Gomez 70;
Bournemouth 1
O’Kane 41;

HT: 0-1. Att: 8,199.

Playing today
Mansfield-Liverpool - 17.00
Swansea-Arsenal - 14.30

Next fixtures
Tuesday: League Cup semi-final, first leg 20.45 Bradford vs Aston Villa.
Wednesday: League Cup semi-final, first leg 20.45 Swansea vs Chelsea.
Saturday: Premier League 16.00 Aston Villa vs Southampton; Everton vs Swansea; Fulham vs Wigan; Norwich vs Newcastle; Reading vs West Brom; Stoke vs Chelsea; Sunderland vs West Ham.
Sunday: Premier League 14.30 Man. United vs Liverpool. 17.00 Arsenal vs Man. City.
Monday, Jan. 14: Premier League 21.00 QPR vs Tottenham.

League One
Crewe 1 - Stevenage 2
Doncaster 1 - Colchester 0
Scunthorpe 0 - Shrewsbury 0
Swindon 4 - Carlisle 0

Standings: Tranmere, Doncaster 50; Sheffield United 47; Brentford 46; Swindon 45; MK Dons, Bournemouth 42; Crawley 41; Stevenage 40; Yeovil, Crewe 39; Coventry 37; Notts County 36; Walsall 35; Preston North End, Leyton Orient 34; Shrewsbury, Carlisle 29; Oldham 27; Colchester 23; Scunthorpe 22; Portsmouth, Bury 21; Hartlepool 12.

League Two
Accrington 0 - Dagenham 2
Barnet 2 - Bradford City 0
Bristol Rovers 0 - Gillingham 2
Northampton 3 - Fleetwood 1
Port Vale 4 - Plymouth 0
Rochdale 0 - Wimbledon 1
Southend p - Cheltenham p
Wycombe 2 - Chesterfield 1
York 1 - Exeter City 2

Standings: Gillingham 51; Port Vale 49; Rotherham 43; Cheltenham 42; Exeter 41; Southend United, Fleet-wood, Bradford City 40; Northampton Town, Burton Albion 39; Chesterfield, Rochdale 36; Oxford 35; Dagenham, York 34; Torquay 33; Wycombe Wanderers 32; Accrington Stanley 30; Morecambe 29; Barnet 26; Aldershot, AFC Wimbledon 25; Plymouth 24; Bristol Rovers 22.

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